5 things to know about Wright State win at Cleveland State

Wright State accomplished more in 10 minutes of overtime than it did in 20 minutes of a soft and shaky first half, and that was enough for the Raiders to survive last-place Cleveland State.

Junior guard Grant Benzinger scored six of his game-high 26 points in the second overtime while adding 10 rebounds to help WSU pull out a 74-68 victory at the Wolstein Center.

“We gutted it out,” said Benzinger, who also had 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. “It’s a good feeling to win. No matter what place they’re in, a win’s a win and we’ll take it.”

After struggling to post 22 points and 11 rebounds in the first half, WSU (19-9 overall, 10-5 Horizon League) had 21 points and 12 rebounds in the 10 minutes of overtime to secure its fourth consecutive win and eighth in the last 10 games.

Senior Steven Davis added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists. It was a Davis trey that got the Raiders even at 33-33 with 14:32 remaining, and he hit another one two minutes later to give WSU its first lead since it was 8-7 seven minutes into the game.

Leading scorer Mark Alstork spent more than 17 minutes on the bench after picking up a technical with 9:57 left in the first half.

He re-entered with 12:44 to go, but he picked up three quick fouls and went back to the bench with four. Alstork was 0 of 9 from the floor in regulation but hit two free throws with 15 seconds left to force overtime.

The Vikings took a quick 61-60 lead to start the second overtime, but Benzinger answered with a 3-pointer to give WSU the lead for good.

Junior guard Justin Mitchell scored nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while senior guard Mike La Tulip added six points and tied his career high with eight rebounds, two of which came late in the second overtime to help WSU seal the win.

Here are five things to know about Saturday’s game:

Alstork’s anger

Alstork earned his fifth technical foul of the season Saturday, and Nagy wasn’t happy about it, benching his leading scorer for the next 17 minutes.

“We have eight technicals this year, and I don’t have one of them,” Nagy said. “Those kind of things about our team have to change. It doesn’t help (Alstork). The officials aren’t going to give him more calls. The opposite thing is going to happen. Officials have pride and they’re human, and if you try to make them look bad, I’m not saying it’s purposefully, but human nature is going to take over.”

Alstork only played 22 minutes and finished 1 of 11 from the floor and 5 of 5 from the free throw line for seven points.

“There’s nobody that feels worse about it than him,” Nagy added. “He’s just a super, highly competitive player. Those things that make him difficult to coach also make him a good player.”

Steven Davis (two) and Justin Mitchell have the other technicals for WSU this season.

Davis delivers

His stat line was impressive, but Davis’ biggest contribution may have been his fiery halftime speech after WSU had trimmed the CSU lead from 12 to 6.

“It was a miracle we were only down six at half the way we played,” WSU coach Scott Nagy said. “They just physically whipped us. We couldn’t even make a cut. It was like we were afraid to get touched.

“I didn’t have to go in there and yell and scream,” Nagy added. “I think it started with Steve. Steve is highly competitive and he didn’t like what was going on, and he let everybody know it. That’s what you need from seniors.”

Thinking tournament

Saturday’s win was the Raiders’ third in a row on the road and fourth in the last five. It also raised their record to 9-1 in games played less than 48 hours after the previous one ended.

Those are two things WSU is going to have to do next month in Detroit if it wants to run through the HL tournament and win its first title since 2007.

“When you get a chance to get wins on the road, it’s really big,” Davis said. “It’s really important. When you get a chance to get wins on the road, it’s really big for us.”

Double duty

Saturday’s game marked the first time Wright State went to double overtime since a 70-68 win at Wisconsin-Green Bay on Feb. 2, 2013. Prior to that it was a 90-87 triumph of No. 20 Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Jan. 2, 2002.

The first game in program history was a triple-overtime loss at Cumerland, but since then WSU is 10-3 in multi-overtime games, including 3-2 at the Division I level.

Up next

Wright State will play its third game in six days Tuesday night at Northern Kentucky before wrapping the regular season next weekend with home games against first-place Valparaiso (Friday) and Illinois-Chicago (Sunday).

“We’re not looking ahead to whoever comes after Tuesday,” Benzinger said. “It’s all about NKU.”

“There’s still a shot to win this thing,” Benzinger said.

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