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Raiders Play Texas Hold Em in Dealing Sam Houston State an 88-48 Hand

By Mike Klingshirn
Dayton, OH - A stellar defensive effort, a record-breaking shooting performance, and the return of John David Gardner, dealt a winning hand for the Wright State Raiders on Monday night, over the Sam Houston State Bearkats, by the final score of 88-44. This was clearly WSU's best performance of the year.

December 29, 2009
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Post-game Audio

N'Gai and John David comments

Brad Brownell comments

Sam Houston State (8-4) entered the game averaging 83 points per contest, but a tenacious Raider defense stymied the Bearkat offense, holding them to just 44 points, on 15-of-52 shooting for 28.8%.

Wright State (9-4) on the other hand, set a new school record for 3-point shooting by hitting on 15-of-25 treys. Overall, they connected on 32-of-56 attempts from the floor.

The Raiders opened the game with an early 4-3 lead at the 15:45 media time-out. That's when John David Gardner made his much awaited first appearance of the season. He had been sidelined for nearly 11 months with a hip injury and surgery. His fiancee's family, his dad, uncle, and dad's best friend traveled a long distance to be in attendance, and JD's performance was fantastic.

After the Josten Crow of SHS hit a shot for the only Bearkat lead of the game at 5-4, Gardner ignited a rally by knocking a trey off of the glass on the next possession. Troy Tabler quickly kissed another 3-pointer off of the glass. Cooper Land added another bucket and free-throw, completing a three-point play. Vaughn Duggins followed by hitting a driving lay-up. JD Gardner capped the run with another bucket, and the Raiders found themselves ahead 17-5 with 11:37 showing on the clock.

"We beat a good team tonight," said Wright State head coach Brad Brownell. "This was a really good win. We played exceptionally well."

In what may have been the best 20 minutes of basketball by a Wright State team in a very long time, the Green and Gold played outstanding defense, holding SHS to just 7-of-27 shooting from the field in the first stanza, while forcing 8 Bearkat turnovers by halftime. The Raiders combined the sparkling defensive effort with an offensive gem of their own, shooting 64% from the floor, and sending them to the locker room with an impressive 44-21 halftime lead.

Was the first half of tonight's game the best 20 minutes that Brad Brownell has ever seen from a Wright State squad? "We had some really good games when DaShaun (Wood) was here," Brownell recalled. "We had some games where we won by 30 and 40 going away, against quality teams. That year, we also had some games where we played pretty well, but I don't know if it was as well as this overall. You have a team coming in, averaging 80 points, and you hold them to 48, and you shoot those kind of numbers offensively - 57 percent. You make 15 threes, and you basically have 20 assists. You do just about everything right. So, if it's not, it's right there with them. Maybe this was a little more of a team effort."

Wright State's defense was so good, that Corey Allmond, Sam Houston's leading scorer for the season, averaging 16.8 points per game, was held scoreless until he hit a free throw with 15:45 to play. But by then, for all intensive purposes, the game was over. The Raiders led 55-25 at that point, and eventually went on to win 88-48.

In his first action of the season, John David Gardner had a near-perfect box score in 20 minutes of play. He scored 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the floor, 2-of-2 from beyond the arc, and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe. He also recorded 4 assists, 2 turnovers, and a 2 steals.

"John David was terrific tonight," said Brownell. "Part of the reason that we played our best game of the season was because he was out there. If you watch our team, there's a different level of emotion. There's a different level of energy that he brings. He's just an outgoing, confident, competitive guy. He has an unbelievable amount of respect from our players. When he's out there, we're better than just what his stats bring. Defensively, he's as active as anybody on our team. We had a season high deflections at halftime. In my opinion, part of that is because John David played."

N'Gai Evans led Wright State in scoring with 16 points in 21 minutes of action. He hit 6-of-7 shots from the field, 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Todd Brown added 14 points. Vaughn Duggins chipped in with 12 on 5-of-6 shooting. Brown also led the team by pulling down 7 rebounds.

In the contest, the Green and Gold's bench outscored the SHS's 40-21. The Raiders out-rebounded the Bearkats 37-33, and outscored them 24-7 off of turnovers. WSU dished-out 20 assists, while committing just 12 turnovers. WSU did not allow a single fast break point in the contest.

Next Games:

Thu. Dec. 31 at Loyola (4:00)
Sat. Jan. 2 at UIC (4:00)

Next Home Games:

Fri. Jan. 8 Butler (7:00)
Sun. Jan. 10 Valparaiso (4:00)

ScoreTracker

Box Score