Raiders Beat Marauders in Exhibition

FAIRBORN - DAYTON, Ohio – The Wright State men’s basketball team opened the season with an 83-55 victory over Central State on Thursday evening at the Ervin J. Nutter Center. The Green and Gold connected on better than 50-percent of their field goal attempts and Todd Brown paced the scoring attack with 17 points in the preseason exhibition.

The Raiders opened the scoring on the first possession of the contest when Ronnie Thomas hit a jump shot from the elbow. After a Central State layup, Brown knocked down a three, but a tip-in basket cut the WSU lead to 5-4 with 17:15 remaining in the opening frame.

The Green and Gold used an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to push their lead to 12 points at 16-4 when Troy Tabler knocked down the front-end of a pair of free throws. WSU’s lead hit 21 points with 5:38 remaining in the opening half when Troy Tabler nailed his third, three pointer of the first half to give the Raiders a 39-18 advantage.

Over the final five minutes of the half, Wright State would out-score the Marauders 14-6 to grab a halftime lead of 53-24. The leading scorer at the half was Tabler and Brown with ten points each, while ten different players scored for the Green and Gold. Brandon Price paced Central State with right points off the bench in the first twenty minutes.

WSU hit 59-percent of their shots in the opening frame, compared to 27-percent for CSU, while knocking down 9-of-17 from three-point range. The Marauders held a 21-18 edge in rebounds, while WSU assisted on 17 of their 19 baskets in the first half.

The second half was more of the same offensively for WSU, pushing their lead to 33 points with a 10-6 run to open the second half. A Cooper Land layup, followed by a dunk from Brown pushed WSU to a 63-30 lead at the 15:00 mark.

The Raiders lead would grow as large as 38 points, when freshman Darian Cartharn knocked down his second three pointer of the contest, giving WSU a 75-37 advantage. Central State would out-score Wright State 18-8 over the final nine minutes to account for the final margin of 83-55.

Wright State would finish the contest with 32 field goals made, shooting 56-percent from the floor and connected on 10-of-21 shots from beyond the arch. Brown and Central State’s Gino Smith tied for game-high scoring honors with 17 points, while Tabler was the only other player in double-figures with 12. Every WSU player that took the floor in the contest scored and grabbed a rebound, with Land nabbing a game-best seven rebounds.

WSU had 22 assists on the evening, forced 16 turnovers and blocked five shots in their lone exhibition game of the preseason. The Green and Gold out-scored CSU 36-16 in the paint, tallied 24 points off of turnovers and the WSU bench scored 37 points in the victory.

The Raiders will open up the regular season with a trip our west to participate in the Athletes in Action Basketball Classic starting on Friday, November 13. Wright State will tangle with host Washington at 10:00 p.m. Dayton time to open up the regular season.