The Raiders were 1 of 9 from the field with four turnovers in that stretch.
They were held to a season low in points, five fewer than their previous low in a loss to Robert Morris.
“We’re so bad offensively right now. It almost doesn’t matter what we do defensively,” coach Scott Nagy said on his post-game radio show.
“We spent the last few days just working on our defense. We’re getting to the point where we’re good enough defensively. But offensively, we’ve got a bunch of guys in a bad spot all at the same time. That makes it really difficult.”
Akron stretched the lead to 13 with 10:51 to go. Wright State couldn’t get closer than eight the rest of the way.
Castaneda, a 6-foot-1 senior guard and a preseason second-team All-MAC selection, finished with a game-high 19 points.
The Zips shot 50% in the second half after hitting 32.4% in the first 20 minutes.
The Raiders were 23 of 63 (36.5%) and 3 of 10 on 3′s for the night.
Trey Calvin scored 16 points off the bench, while A.J. Braun chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds and Tim Finke 11 points and nine boards as the Raiders fell to 5-6. The Zips are 6-4.
“The players — they’re hurting. If they weren’t, I’d really question, ‘What’s the problem?’ You can see it in their faces,” Nagy said. “I’m OK with that. I told them if they weren’t hurting, then I’d be concerned.
“We’ll get it straightened out. The kids have good attitudes. They’re fighting. I think when you’re going through these stretches, that’s the key.”
Down 21-14 with seven minutes to go in the first half, the Raiders offense woke up. They went on a 16-7 run to take a 30-28 lead at the break.
They went 5 of 9 in that final stretch, including 3′s by Calvin and Finke.
The Zips went 11 of 34 (32.4%) from the field and chose to live on the outside, going 5 of 21 on 3′s.
They ditched that strategy in the second half, taking just five 3′s, making one.
SATURDAY’S GAME
Northwestern Ohio at Wright State, 3 p.m., ESPN+, 980
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