But slick perimeter play and rugged post scoring sent Wright State to an 83-65 victory before a season-high 5,659 fans Friday night in the 500th game at the Nutter Center (361 wins, 139 losses).
The Raiders, fourth in the nation in field-goal shooting at 50%, ran their offense to near perfection in the second half, making 20 of 28 shots (71.4%) and committing just two turnovers.
“You just have to move against that zone. If you stand, they’re just going to eat you up,” coach Scott Nagy said.
The Raiders went 9 of 22 from 3 while scoring nearly 20 points more than NKU’s 63.7 defensive average.
They shot 32 of 55 for the game (58.2%).
“There’s no big-time strategy to it. It’s telling players to be players — and don’t stand. In the first game (a 78-64 road loss), we’d run down the floor and stand in the corner,” Nagy said.
“You also have to get the ball inside. Most people struggle to get the ball inside, and we’re trying to get it there on EVERYBODY.
“But that’s a good zone. That’s as good a zone as I’ve ever gone against.”
Star guard Trey Calvin had 21 points, while wings Tim Finke (on his Senior Night farewell) and Andrew Welage had 12 each and Alex Huibregtse 11.
“It was really simple — just move. Not stand in one spot. We had to keep moving and find the open man,” Calvin said.
Redshirt freshman forward Brandon Noel had 18 points, going 7 of 7 from the field and 4 of 4 on foul shots.
“We had to find those pockets where they can’t see you,” Noel said. “It was good ball movement. There was a lot of pass, pass, pass — no dribbles and easy layups.”
Down 45-43 after a Marques Warrick layup with 16 minutes to go, the Raiders ripped off eight straight points in three minutes to take the lead for good.
The last bucket came on a steal by Noel in transition and a nifty assist to Finke for a layup to make it 51-45.
The Norse had one more surge, but Calvin led a 19-1 run over a five-minute span with seven points (including a fastbreak dunk) for a 70-51 lead with 6:47 left.
“It’s defense. It’s always defense. They were frustrated, and we were getting steals and turnovers, and that led to easy baskets for us,” Calvin said.
It was a stay-alive game for the Raiders, who improved to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in the league. They’re 1.5 games out of fourth and 3.5 out of first (going into Saturday’s games) with four to play, all on the road.
The top four teams get first-round byes in the league tourney and a quarterfinal home game.
Their game against fourth-place Cleveland State at 7 p.m. Friday will be on ESPNU.
Warrick, a preseason first-team All-Horizon League guard, went scoreless in the first nine minutes but finished with 27 for the Norse (15-11, 10-5).
The Raiders had another strong defensive effort while winning for the fifth time in six games, holding the visitors to 36.4% shooting.
FRIDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Cleveland State, 7 p.m., ESPNU, 980
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