The Raiders shot 66.1% from the field and scored their most points against a Division-I foe in four years in handing Purdue Fort Wayne its first Horizon League loss with a 106-98 victory Saturday afternoon.
They took an 11-point halftime edge, built it to 23 points with 8:34 to go and still led 101-86 with 1:30 left before a late PFW charge.
They notched their first road win after starting 0-5 and are 8-8 overall and 3-2 in the league.
“To win a college basketball game, there’s always something you have to overcome. It’s not going to be easy. Things flowed pretty smoothly for us for the first 35 minutes. Then, we got a little squirrely with the ball,” Nagy said on his post-game radio show.
“But boy, did we pass it well today or what? We had 22 assists. We were cutting. Offensively, we were so good.”
The Raiders put five players in double figures: Tanner Holden had 26, Alex Huibregtse a season-high 21, Trey Calvin 18, Andrew Welage 15 and Brandon Noel 13.
Huibregtse, a 6-4 junior guard, had a career-high nine rebounds along with six assists.
Quinton Morton had 26 points, Rasheed Bello 24 and Jalen Jackson 23 for the Mastodons, 13-3, 4-1.
It’s the third time the Raiders have surpassed 100 this season and the second time against a D-I foe.
It’s the most they’ve scored since dropping 111 vs. Northwestern Ohio last season and the most against a D-I opponent since also hitting 106 in a 50-point win over IUPUI on Feb. 16, 2020.
They went into the game second in the nation in field-goal shooting at 52.89%, just a shade behind Colorado State.
“With these guys, you almost do have to out-score them — because they are good offensively. They are at you. They shot a lot of free throws (22 of 33), which is frustrating,” Nagy said.
“But I couldn’t believe when I looked up and saw how spread out (the scoring) was and how many guys we had who played so good. I hate to have to out-score people, but I’ll take it.”
The Raiders, who lost both games to PFW last season, were cooking in the first half in taking a 51-40 lead, making 20 of their first 28 shots and finishing 20 of 30.
They did it despite front-line foul trouble. A.J. Braun had three fouls and two points while playing nine minutes, and Noel had four points and two fouls while being limited to nine minutes.
The Mastodons, the league’s highest-scoring team at 83.5 points per game (Wright State was averaging 83.4), stayed within striking range by going 13 of 21 on free throws.
The lead had been 48-30 with 3:40 to go.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Robert Morris, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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