Bellbrook graduation 2012
Fairfield Senior 2012 graduation
Kroger Aquatic Center opens
Wright State
Surgery to sideline Raiders' Duggins
Leading scorer for 0-4 Wright State fractured his ring finger in a Thanksgiving Day practice.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
FAIRBORN — Wright State's Vaughn Duggins has an operation on his injured ring finger scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 3. It will keep him out of the lineup most of the month.
That's certainly not good news for the 0-4 Raiders, especially heading into Horizon League play at Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin-Milwaukee this week.
"Eventually, I think I would have to have an operation if I wanted to continue playing basketball after college," Duggins said. "If I have it now, I can get back and play. If I wait, it could get worse and I'd miss more games."
Duggins, who sprained his finger in a Thanksgiving Day practice and played Saturday at Sam Houston State with the finger taped to his pinkie and middle finger, had a precautionary X-ray Monday, and a fracture was found.
Coach Brad Brownell said he wasn't certain who would fill in for Duggins, who is not his only injured player.
Duggins did not practice Monday, and he wasn't the only one. Redshirt freshman center Kyle Pressley, who sprained his left ankle in the Sam Houston game, and sophomore guard Troy Tabler, who suffered a separated left shoulder, also missed.
Both Pressley and Tabler are expected to miss this week's games, and maybe more.
"We've had 40 practices this fall, and we've probably had a full roster for only about 10 of them," Brownell said. "It's hard to build flow that way. It's hard to build consistency."
To help fill the void, Brownell is considering adding walk-on freshman Mike Boan, a WSU student from Reynoldsburg, to the roster. Boan has been acting as a practice player so far.
He will have a tough time making up for Duggins, who is the team's leading scorer at 11.8 points a game.
With the team's poor start, Duggins was moved out of the starting lineup for one game, along with other returning starters Will Graham and Todd Brown. Duggins was back in the starting lineup for Sam Houston State, and while he played an exemplary game, the Raiders still lost 84-65. It was the most points the Raiders have allowed in more than two years, since Bradley beat them 88-49 on Dec. 5, 2006.
Next game
Who: Wright State (0-4) at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (3-2)
When: 8 p.m. Thursday
Radio: WONE-AM (980), WIZE-AM (1340)
