DETROIT– The 2018 Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship is in the books with Wright State taking the crown and the automatic NCAA Tourney selection. Wright State which is near Dayton, Ohio played relentless defense in besting Cleveland State, 74-57. The tournament was held at the fabulous and new Little Caesars Arena.
In front of an announced attendance of 7,595 Wright State (25-9) was led by senior Grant Benzinger’s 19 points and nine rebounds. He was selected as the tournament’s MVP. “This whole team is a bunch of workhorses,” Benzinger said post-game.
Second year head coach Scott Nagy said, “I’ve coached a lot of guys over many, many years, but 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.”
Wright State outscored the Vikings in the paint 34-22 and 17-8 off the bench. In another important stat Wright State won the battle of the boards 40-30. Both teams excelled at their foul shots as CSU was 7-7 and WSU was 9-11.
Senior Kenny Carpenter (Detroit Cass Tech) had 18 points for CSU.
In the women’s final, top-seeded Green Bay took a 62-44 victory over Wright State. Green Bay (29-3) claimed its fourth consecutive Horizon League Championship.