The Wright State Raiders are known for their offense, but it was their defense, coupled with NIU’s cold shooting, that was the difference in Saturday’s 66-47 Huskies loss in Dayton, Ohio.

The 47 points was the lowest output for NIU (10-9) since the 1984-85 season, and it was the first time Wright State (16-4) has held a Division I opponent to under 50 points. The Raiders entered the game averaging 91 points, but needed 25 less to hand NIU its eigth road loss in 10 outings.

“Wright State obviously is a very good basketball team,” said coach Jim Molinari. “They hopped on us early (and) their pressure hurt us. We were back on our heels the rest of the night.”

NIU trailed throughout the game after falling behind 7-0 in the game’s first minute. Two baskets by Donnell Thomas pulled the Huskies to within one, but NIU went on to shoot only 8 of 23 (.348) in the half and trailed 33-18 at intermission.

Thomas scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the second half, but couldn’t prevent the Raiders from buliding a lead that reached 21 points. The Huskies rebounded in the second half to shoot 12 of 24 (.500), but Wright State used balanced scoring to keep the lead in double figures.

The sell-out crowd of 2,750 saw four Raiders score in double figures, led by six-foot-eight forward Bill Edwards’ 14 points. Thomas added nine rebounds to go along with his 18 points to lead NIU. No other Huskie scored in double figures.

The win was the fifth straight for Wright State, which has now won 11 of its last 12. The Huskies were coming off of their biggest road-victory of the year, 53-48 over Evansville and had a chance to win back-to-back away games for the first time since 1986. The Huskies now return to Chick Evans Field House for their next game—Thursday against Florida International.