Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Wright State players saw a different side of Scott Nagy in their locker room at halftime after allowing Youngstown State to build a 45-38 lead Thursday.
The Raiders were getting carved up by the upstart Penguins, and they looked to be on the path to another road defeat until getting chewed out by their defensive-minded coach.
“It was the first time all year I really had to raise my voice. I just let out some frustration, and the kids responded to it,” Nagy said on his post-game radio show.
“We have too many older kids for stuff like that to happen. It’s on their shoulders, and they need to get us going. I don’t care what the atmosphere (around the team) is like. This is all too important to all of us. We’re very fortunate to win this game the way we played in the first half.”
The Raiders rode a strong second-half defensive effort, perfect shooting from the free-throw line and a breakout performance from Malachi Smith to pull out an 80-74 victory.
They gave up only 29 second-half points and went 18 for 18 on foul shots to improve to 9-10 overall and 3-3 in the Horizon League.
It was only their second road win after starting the season 1-8 away from the Nutter Center, and it was the first time they prevailed in a game decided by seven points or fewer after starting 0-7.
