Forcing the Raiders into 10 first-half turnovers — more than they had in a full game against Youngstown State on Thursday — the visitors built a 32-29 halftime lead and a 37-29 edge early in the second half.
Not exactly the way coach Scott Nagy wanted to send his seniors out.
“We were throwing it all over the place. A third of our possessions were turnovers,” he said disgustedly.
The Colonials had a chance to make the lead 10 but missed a pair of free throws. And the Raiders soared after that, going on a 29-8 run on their way to a 71-61 victory Saturday night.
Grant Basile had 20 points, eight rebounds and tied his career high with four blocks. Trey Calvin had 18 points and three steals. And Tanner Holden finished with 16 points and eight rebounds.
The Raiders managed to tighten up their ball-handling, too, committing just five turnovers after halftime.
“All of the 50-50 balls in the second half, we got,” said Nagy, who came away with admiration for opposing coach Andy Toole.
“It would have been easy for them to come in and roll over, but Andy is a good coach. I’ve coached against enough people to know. We have a hard time guarding his team.”
Nagy gave his three seniors — James Manns, Riley Voss and son T.J. Nagy — warm hugs at midcourt before the game, and the trio were showered with applause from the 3,796 fans.
The players’ families also were included in the ceremony, meaning the elder Nagy was both a greeter and participant.
“It was a strange experience for me and my wife,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of senior days, but never one like that.
“It would have been nice to put them in at the end, but that didn’t work out.”
The Raiders finished the regular-season 18-13 overall and 15-7 in the Horizon League, earning the fourth seed in the conference tourney and a bye into the quarterfinals Thursday.
They’ll face the highest remaining seed once the first round is played Tuesday.
Cleveland State and Purdue Fort Wayne ended up sharing the regular-season title with 15-6 records. The Vikings lost their final two games at Detroit Mercy and Oakland, while the Mastodons swept both teams.
CSU had already wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the league tourney. Fort Wayne is second, Northern Kentucky, which went 14-6, is third.
“The incredible thing is we finished fourth, and we were a half-game out of winning the thing,” Nagy said. “But I can’t tell you how much I hate fourth place. That’s not where I expect our team to be.”
Oakland (12-7), Detroit Mercy (10-7), Youngstown State (12-9) and UIC (8-10) were seeded fifth through eighth and will host first-round games.
“I’m looking at our league this year and going, ‘Oh my goodness, our top team lost six games. The team that finished sixth lost seven games. It’s nuts,’” Nagy said.
“It’s so tight. This is going to be a different year for sure. It might be an advantage to be able to keep playing (in the first round).”
HL women’s tourney: Wright State (4-22, 3-18) ended the regular-season with a 51-40 home loss to Oakland (13-14, 11-9) on Saturday, and those two will meet in the first round of the league tourney at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Grizzlies, seeded seventh, will host the 10th-seeded Raiders.
IUPUI earned the top seed, followed by Youngstown State, Green Bay and Cleveland State.
Collins honored: Chris Collins was honored during a second-half break for his 25th year as play-by-play radio announcer for Raider games.
THURSDAY’S GAME
TBD at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 980
About the Author