Wright State can’t contain Colorado State, fall in season opener on road

Wright State went into the season with confidence it could surround star guard Trey Calvin with more help and not rely on him to carry so much of the load.

In their first road opener in five years, though, the Raiders were mostly a one-man show on offense, and their defense was virtually non-existent.

Picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference, Colorado State scored the first nine points of the second half for a 54-42 lead and rolled to a 105-77 victory Friday night.

Calvin scored 20 points in the first half and 33 overall, going 12 of 21 from the field in 34 minutes. He averaged 20.3 last season.

Tanner Holden chipped in 16 points, but only three came after halftime.

The other three starters combined for 22 points, and the bench contributed just six.

“They just beat us up,” coach Scott Nagy said on his post-game radio show. “We just stood out on top, never got the ball inside. And we had some guys play nervous. In a place like this and a team like this, you can’t have guys show up and be nervous.

“But we’re not going to beat anybody when you give up 105. We talked about this — can we guard people and will that be the most important thing to us? Right now, it’s not.”

MWC preseason player of the year Isaiah Stevens tallied 22 points and 14 assists, going 9 of 10 from the field.

“What I’m most displeased about, when it didn’t go well, we didn’t stay together,” Nagy said. “We know the toughest part of our season is right now, these teams we play (Toledo, Indiana and the Gulf Coast Showcase are next).

“They were just way more physical than us. It made it difficult to get into anything. It kind of goes back to last year: We were just watching Trey play.”

The Rams (2-0) made 42 of 66 shots for 63.6%. They went 12 of 29 on 3′s after starting 1 of 8.

They also had a whopping 37-8 edge in assists.

The Raiders (0-1) hit 29 of 58 shots, but they made just 13 of 18 free throws and went 6 of 15 on 3′s.

They hadn’t opened a season on the road since losing at Loyola (Ill.), 84-80, in 2017-18.

TUESDAY’S GAME

Toledo at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 1410, 101.5

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