Raiders lose third in a row
Loyola dominates right after halftime, wins 74-57 at Nutter
By Marc Katz
Dayton Daily News
FAIRBORN | On Alumni Day, when Wright State brought back former cheerleaders, former dance team members and an old mascot, a shadow of a former team appeared, too, and not one of the best WSU teams.
The Raiders dug back into some of the worst of pre-coach Paul Biancardi times, allowing Chicago-Loyola's Ramblers to rumble all over them, 74-57 in a Horizon League game played before 5,971 fans at the Nutter Center.
It was the third straight loss for the Raiders — who suddenly seem vulnerable to any team that can shoot a 3-point shot — and dropped them out of a chance to move back into at least a third-place tie in the league.
It was also the third straight time WSU has lost to Loyola, counting a first-round Horizon League tournament game last March and both games this year.
"I think this tells you a lot about our league," first-year Loyola coach Jim Whitesell said. "If you play well, you have a chance to win.
"In our situation, every opportunity we have, we have to max out and play well. Today, we played well, we shot the ball well, and at the end, when it looked like we were running out of composure, we held on."
Down by two at the half, the Raiders stumbled to a 58-40 deficit with 8:02 to play when they made their only real run of the game, bringing the crowd alive on a 3-point Zakee Boyd goal to cut the Ramblers' lead to 58-49, then two DaShaun Wood baskets to make it 60-53.
That's when Loyola's 6-foot-8 freshman Tom Levin took a pass beyond the 3-point line and stuck it with 2:38 to play, deflating the Raiders, who dropped to 10-12 and 5-6 in the league. Loyola is 7-15 and 5-7.
Boyd, who paced the Raiders with 21 points — his first double-figure scoring effort in four games — pointed out Loyola shot well (56.5 percent), and coupled with WSU's 16 turnovers, "it's very, very hard to win. Offense to me doesn't win games or championships. You've got to play defense. They were hitting 3s. Give them credit. They made a lot of 3s with us on them, and some without us on them. We've just got to get in people more than we are."
That may be the case, but Loyola finished with just one less turnover than the Raiders — 15 — and WSU was coming off a game where it shot 55 percent against Milwaukee — and lost.
Oh, and sophomore Blake Schilb rained 26 points on the Raiders, including making 4 of 7 3-point shots.
"Our defense wasn't what it needed to be," WSU coach Paul Biancardi said. "On the other hand, I was impressed by the way Loyola shot the ball."
He could not say the same for his own offense.
"I would say we missed eight shots around the basket (including several layups) that were pretty open," Biancardi said. "We missed a lot of easy shots. When we miss easy shots, there's nothing you can do but encourage guys to keep taking shots."
The Raiders also continued to misfire at the foul line. Although they made 10 of 15 for the game, they missed four out of five in the last 7:23, all by senior Zach Williams, who has been the team's bellwether for the season.
"We put ourselves in a bad situation," Wood said. "This conference is open. Anyone can beat any other. They (the Ramblers) came to play, and they were catching us at a bad time."
Times might be bad, but at least the Raiders are only a game out of a coveted third-place finish in the league with a home game against Butler Monday night.
"The good thing is playing Monday," Boyd said. "You can't dwell on that loss. We can't come in moping about the loss. Then practice will be bad."
It shouldn't be as bad as Saturday's game.
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