“You can’t give up 50-percent shooting and expect to win,” Nagy said after the Raiders fell to 2-1. “We are scoring enough, we just are not defensively consistent. If you want to be a championship team, you have to have teams in the lower 40s.
“We are getting closer, but we’ve got a long way to go.”
Toledo (2-1) shot 52.5 percent (32 of 61) from the floor in wrestling a win from the Raiders down the stretch.
“Our confidence,” WSU junior Justin Mitchell said. “We’ve got to get more confidence and get better defensively. We are gifted offensively with Mark (Alstork) and the guys around him, but our main focus has to be on our defense.”
Alstork did all he could to carry the Raiders to a 3-0 start.
The junior guard finished with 39 points, six rebounds and four assists but was more interested in talking about a layup he missed with 35 seconds remaining and the Raiders trailing 79-76.
“I’m still mad I missed that layup,” Alstork said. “I’d rather trade the points for a win. Any day. I hate losing more than I like winning.”
The Raiders trailed by as many as seven early in the first half before Alstork, Steven Davis and Mitchell took over. A pair of Davis free throws and his follow-up dunk started a 23-10 run that turned a 20-14 deficit into a 37-30 Raider lead with 3:30 remaining in the half.
Wright State’s 39-38 halftime lead quickly became a 51-45 deficit to start the second half before Alstork again brought the Raiders back.
Back-to-back jumpers by Alstork gave the Raiders a 58-55 lead with 9:43 remaining before Toledo took the lead for good with 1:07 left on a 3-pointer by Jonathan Williams.
Williams was one of three Rockets in double figures with 22 points.
Mitchell added 15 and Davis 11 for the Raiders, who shot 49 percent from the floor and 20 percent from 3-point range (4 of 20).
Toledo also held a 35-30 rebounding edge.
“I look at all the stats and they won all of them,” Nagy said. “The only one we won was the turnover battle (14-12). They are a good offensive team and they put a lot of guys on the floor that can score and that makes them hard to guard.”
WSU on Monday hosts Ohio Dominican at 7 p.m. at the Nutter Center as part of the Men Against Breast Center Classic presented by Premier Health.
About the Author