Wright State Claims 2018 #HLMBB Title at #MotorCityMadness
Joey Yashinsky
No. 2 Wright State 74, No. 8 Cleveland State 57
In the Motor City Madness men’s championship game on Tuesday night, it was the No. 2 seed Wright State Raiders securing their first Horizon League tournament title since 2007 with a 74-57 victory over the No. 8 seed Cleveland State Vikings.
With just over seven minutes to go in the opening half, rocksteady junior Mark Hughes buried a triple to give Wright State a 22-21 lead. From there, it was off to the races for Scott Nagy’s unflappable bunch of Raiders.
Senior Grant Benzinger, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, competed with a reckless abandon during his game-high 39 minutes. When he wasn’t hitting 3s or tapping in offensive rebounds, he was launching himself into the Little Caesars Arena stands chasing down loose balls. Benzinger led all scorers with 19 points while adding eight rebounds.
“I’ve coached a lot of guys over many, many years,” Nagy said. “Grant might be the only one I’ve had to ask to quit diving on the floor. But it just shows you how badly he wanted this thing.”
After three grueling, white-knuckle victories spanning four nights, Dennis Felton’s group from Cleveland State appeared just a tad leg-weary in the tournament final.
Wright State hustled down a number of offensive rebounds in the second half to extend possessions, contributing to a key 18-3 overall edge in second-chance points.
After heading to the break trailing 34-26, Cleveland State rattled off a quick five points to begin the second half to pull within three.
But as they did all tournament long, Wright State answered right back, this time with a 10-2 burst highlighted by a spectacular drive and finish by freshman Everett Winchester with just under 15 minutes to go.
The Vikings would draw no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Winchester's crowd-pleaser was followed a short time later by a highlight-reel play from Conference Freshman of the Year Loudon Love. Handling the rock out beyond the 3-point arc, the 275-pound Love shook his defender with a crossover, then spun into the lane and finished with a double-pump layup on the opposite side of the hoop -- though he wasn’t sure his coach would be as enamored with the sequence.
“Coach (Nagy) will probably say I stumbled into it and to stop dribbling the ball on the perimeter,” joked Love. “But I think it was an energy play and it was good to get the team going.”
Cleveland State was led by its pair of All-Tournament Team guards: Kenny Carpenter scored 18 points and Tyree Appleby chipped in 15 to go with five assists. Appleby’s late fireworks against Northern Kentucky and his last-minute game-winner against Oakland will endure as signature moments in Horizon League lore.
“Tyree is going to be a special player,” Carpenter said of his gutsy freshman teammate.
The champion Raiders got important offensive contributions from Cole Gentry and Jaylon Hall. Each scored 11 points, making up for the atypical off-night offensively for Love (3-of-10, nine points).
Cleveland State’s season comes to an end with a 12-23 overall record.
With the victory, Wright State (25-9) earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, the third trip in program history (1993, 2007). They now await their opponent, with brackets set to be released Sunday, March 11 at 6:00 p.m. on TBS.
All-Tournament Team
Tyree Appleby, Cleveland State
Kenny Carpenter, Cleveland State
Khalil Small, Green Bay
Grant Benzinger (MVP), Wright State
Loudon Love, Wright State