Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
No. 1 seed.
Defending champs.
Preseason favorite.
20-point lead.
A 66-54 win over Green Bay still came down to doing the dirty work for Wright State on Monday night in the Horizon League men’s basketball tournament semifinals at Little Caesar’s Arena.
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“To win in the tournament the ball’s gotta bounce your way,” Green Bay coach Linc Darner said. “The ball bounced more their way.”
But this was a case of the Raiders creating their own luck, at least in the eyes of their opponent.
“They got loose balls,” Darner said. “They dove on the floor. A couple times late in the game, Cole Gentry loses the ball, we don’t dive on it, they pick it up, we foul them and then it’s a one-and-one. If we dive on the floor and get the ball, who knows?”
Such a scenario played out with the Raiders nursing a 54-50 lead with under six minutes to go.
Wright State senior Alan Vest came up with the ball out of crowd under the basket and laid it in while being fouled by Cody Schwartz. He hit the free throw to make it a seven-point game.
After the Raiders got a defensive stop, sharp-shooter Bill Wampler found himself with the ball on the low block. He maneuvered himself free for another layup and suddenly the Raiders were up nine again with under five minutes to play.
“Our M.O. is to try to get more hustle plays than the other team, especially guys like Alan,” said Wampler, who scored a game-high 18 points. “Early he had all the hustle plays, and if we see him doing it, it’s contagious. Then (center) Loudon (Love) jumps on the floor, we’ll all start diving on the floor, taking charges. Coach says we’re not the most talented team all the time, but we do all the toughness things and find ways to win.”
