Cleveland State went 28 of 57 from the field (49.1%) and 9 of 18 on 3′s to beat visiting Wright State, 78-64, for its fifth straight win Sunday.
Playing without starting point guard Keaton Norris (leg injury), the Raiders, who went into the game hitting 50.1% from the floor, finished 26 of 58 for 44.8%.
Making 39.1% of their 3′s, they went 1 of 10 in the first half and finished 5 of 23 while losing for the third straight time.
“I just feel because of timidness and unsureness, we’re unable to come in and dictate a game. We’ve lost that,” coach Clint Sargent said on his post-game radio show after his team fell to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in the league.
“We continue to get hit first. The first half was incredibly timid and tentative, and Cleveland State does a good job of getting you back on your heels. We just played fearful again.”
Trailing by 12 on a Dylan Arnett dunk with 6:45 to go, the Raiders’ Jack Doumbia scored, and then Brandon Noel hit a 3, prompting the Vikings to burn a timeout with five minutes to go.
Doumbia then scored again on a layup at 4:24 to make it 64-59.
But the Vikings (9-6, 3-1) went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes — going 4 of 4 from the field with a pair of 3′s, while the Raiders went 0 of 3 with a pair of misses from 3 — to put the game out of reach.
Noel had 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, and Doumbia had 19 points while going 7 of 11 form the field.
The Raiders have their first three-game losing streak since starting last year 0-3.
“I’m going to keep chipping away at it. I like how (the players) came back after break. But there’s an in-game barrier where we’ve just got to get mentally tougher in some areas,” Sargent said.
THURSDAY’S GAME
Green Bay at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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