They went 21 of 33 from the field in the first half while building a commanding 51-30 lead and finished 34 of 54 for 63% — most of those shots coming around the rim.
Brandon Noel was a force, scoring 26 points while going 9 of 19 from the field and 8 of 12 from the foul line. The 6-foot-8 redshirt junior also yanked down 16 rebounds.
“That was an emphasis going into the game, trying to feed the ball down low — especially to Brandon. We executed that pretty well,” point guard Keaton Norris said.
“We got off to a good start. I would say we didn’t finish as well. The second half wasn’t our best. We’d like to correct a few things. But all in all, a good performance.”
Noel had his eighth double-double this season and fourth in five games. He had nine last year and 11 as a freshman.
He was one off his season high in points (he had 27 against Princeton) and equaled his season best in rebounds (he also had 16 at Miami).
Norris had 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Solomon Callaghan and Jack Doumbia had 12 points each.
Logan Woods, back after a one-game absence because of an illness, had nine points. And 6-6 Michael Imariagbe was part of the Raiders’ interior muscle, notching six points and seven rebounds.
Coach Clint Sargent said of the attack-the-basket strategy: “A lot of that is attributed to Brandon — his growth and wanting the ball and his pace and physicality down there. IU Indy changes their defenses so much, and it can be problematic on the perimeter for us. We thought we could simplify it and try to get it inside to slow ourselves down.
“Credit to Brandon for slowing himself down. He was 3 of 10 in the first half, but he kept chasing it and chasing it. That can lead to so many good things in terms of our mentality. It also helps when you go 9 of 15 from 3 and are taking the right ones.”
The Raiders could have been inclined to give a half-hearted effort after having won the previous 12 games in the series. They didn’t.
They had a 36-27 rebounding edge, cut their turnovers to 10 after having 49 in the previous three games and led by as many as 25 while hiking their record to 13-13 overall and 7-8 in the Horizon League.
Sean Craig had 26 points and Paul Zilinskas, who leads the HL in 3-point shooting at 41.3%, made 3 of 8 treys and scored 22 for IU Indy (formerly IUPUI), which is 8-18, 4-11.
“For our guys to come in locked in — I thought they bounced back very well from Fort Wayne (an 87-64 road loss Wednesday). I continue to see that with them,” Sargent said.
“I’m very proud of them. I thought the first half, defensively and offensively, was one of our cleaner halves. I really thought Keaton did a great job being steady all night.”
FRIDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Milwaukee, 8 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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