After a couple of unbelievable comebacks Monday night at the Nutter Center – Wright State coming from 14 down to edge Detroit, 77-76, and Joe Thomasson recovering from a nasty face-first crash to the floor that had him in the training room being stitched up in the final minutes of game – the Raiders senior guard was asked about what he’d hurt in the fall that had left him lying stunned and bleeding on the court for a couple of minutes.
“It’s not about me,” he said as he stood outside the locker room, the thread from six stitches visible on his chin,
When a teammate walked past and grabbed his right hand, you noticed him quietly wince and so you pressed him again on the injuries.
“Wrist, elbow, chin …WIN!” he finally said.
The emphasis was on the last word.
“That’s the main thing,” he said. “We won.”
And the Raiders got the improbable victory thanks to Thomasson.
Sure Grant Benzinger made the game-winning three pointer with 17.1 seconds left. And sophomore guard Mark Alstork carried the Raiders down the stretch, finishing with a team-high 21 points. And Michael Karena, the big man from New Zealand, added 15 points before fouling out.
But Thomasson gave the team the “grit” and “toughness” – Coach Billy Donlon’s words – when the team needed it the most.
With 8:32 left in the game and WSU trailing 62-52, Thomasson stole the ball and went roaring down the court for what he anticipated would be a break-away dunk. At the same time Detroit’s 6-foot-8 Paris Bass came rushing toward the basket for an attempted block.
Thomasson went up toward the rim, there was contact and he slammed face-first onto the court. There was no referee’s whistle, but play was soon stopped when Thomasson was not getting up.
“Paris Bass tried to meet me at the rim,” Thomasson recalled later. “We definitely made contact and then I fell face-first. My chin hit first and my wrist was right behind it. It took me a while to get up because I was shook up. My body was feeling something it’s not accustomed to feeling.”
WSU trainer Jason Franklin left the bench to attend to Thomasson and, soon after, team physician Matt Lawless and an assistant left their seats in the stands to help out.
Thomasson’s family — his mom, dad and girlfriend — all congregated near courtside. When he was finally helped up and guided to the training room, he looked in the direction of his mom and said: “I’m all right.”
“I saw my family had come running down,” he said. “My mom’s a big panicker. My girlfriend, too. I wanted them to know I was OK.”
He tried to convince the doctors of the same thing in the training room and finally he was told: “Sit down Joe. We gotta get that thing closed up.”
As Lawless came into his office, Franklin asked, “What do you need?”
“Some 18-gauge,” Lawless said.
After Thomasson was sutured and had gone through a concussion check, he was allowed to return to the court.
He came running toward the bench with 3:59 left. The Raiders had cut the lead to 69-63 and a time out had been called.
As the players began to huddle, Thomasson pushed into their midst and everyone seemed to get a boost of adrenalin … and relief.
“Him coming back energized the team,” Donlon said. “A lot of people look up to Joe.”
Benzinger agreed: “When Joe comes in, whether he got stitches on the court or just came back from halftime, he brings us energy. He’s a big team guy. He leads us. He gets us going in the right direction.”
Donlon waited 19 seconds and put Thomasson back into the game.
The senior guard promptly got a rebound on a missed Detroit free throw. Then in the final 68 seconds he came up huge.
He made the assist to Alstork whose basket tied the game, 74-74.
Then after a time out, WSU had the ball with 26.6 seconds. The Raiders trailed 76-74.
Thomasson brought the ball across midcourt, saw his defender back off and hoisted a 3. The shot bounded off the rim, but instantly he sidestepped his defender and roared in to grab the long rebound.
He drove the ball a step or two toward the basket and as the Titans collapsed on him, he spotted Benzinger on the wing, made the pass and the sophomore sharp-shooter hit the game-winner.
“When I got the rebound I knew Benzy was relocating somewhere around the three and that was my first option,” Thomasson said. “I saw him, made the precise pass and he put it in. That was a big ball shot by Benzinger, credit him.”
Donlon also credited Thomasson for his grit and toughness to get the rebound and then have the poise to make the perfect assist.
Thomasson finished with 10 points, a game-high eight rebounds, two assists, one steal … and one trip to the training room.
After losing seven of their first 10 games this season, the Raiders (11-8, 5-1 Horizon) have now won eight of nine.
“All I’m gonna say is them Raiders are up to something,” Thomasson said with a laugh, the stitches dancing on his chin. “We’ve got something going on now.
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