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Raiders defealt ValpoBy Ryan HehrIt wasn't the ideal win for Wright State, but their 68-58 victory over Valpo on Thursday night was still a win.
Tell us your opinion! Email RaiderRoundball  Email story to a friend"It wasn't pretty," said head coach Brad Brownell. "We struggled to shoot the ball in the second half, but that is something we had to deal with at the beginning of the year and we haven't always responded. But our offense (on Thursday) was better in the second half." In that first half Wright State shot just 25 percent from the field making just six field goals in the half. The one bright spot in the offense was in the offense was Todd Brown, who scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half. He was the only Raider to score more than five points in the half. "(My shots) were just falling," said Brown. "(Valpo) had a good game plan and I had to work for them though. The second half I had cramps so then everyone else had to step up." And step up is exactly what the other Raiders did. After being down 27-28 in the first half the Raiders came out and went on a 17-9 run to take a comfortable 44-37 lead midway through the half. Then, Wright State hit another troublesome streak. In the final 2:35 of the game, Wright State was sent to the free-throw line 18 times and had the opportunity to put the game away for good. But they weren't able to capitalize on it. They were just 9-18 from the line in those closing minutes. Will Graham had eight of those free-throw attempts, but only connected on two of them. "I got up there and was alligatoring them," said Graham. "There is just no excuse for that. I could have put us in a position to put the game away, but instead, I just extended it." Fortunately for Wright State, Valpo couldn't make anything either. They made just one field goal in the last four minutes of the game and were 3-4 from the line during that same stretch. Wright State will now take on Butler on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. It is a game that Wright State fans have had circled on their calendar since the beginning of the season. In his coaching career at Wright State, Brad Brownell is a perfect 3-0 against Butler at the Nutter Center. |
