The Wright State Raiders men’s basketball team (7-8, 1-3 Horizon) ended 2024 on the wrong side of the spectrum in their 78-64 loss on the road against the Cleveland State Vikings (9-6, 3-1 Horizon) on Sunday afternoon at the Henry J. Goodman Arena.
Early in the first half, both teams traded buckets as the lead changed three times within a span of a minute and 28 seconds. But later on, Daniyal Robinson’s Vikings took the lead on a made three-ball by Reece Robinson, had a pair of 7-0 runs in that same half, and never trailed in the game again.
Late in the 2nd half, Cleveland State was up 64-52 following a Dylan Arnett dunk before Wright State cut the lead down to five with a 7-0 run of their own courtesy of layups by Jack Doumbia and a three-pointer from Brandon Noel. However, the Vikings finished the day by scoring 14 of the game’s last 19 points.
Wright State’s third straight loss puts them in a three-way tie with Detroit Mercy and IU-Indy for 8th place in the Horizon League standings, while Cleveland State has now won five games in a row and are tied with Purdue-Fort Wayne for third place.
Wright State only had 10 healthy bodies available since starting point guard Keaton Norris sat out his second straight contest with a thigh bruise. Brandon Noel led all scorer with 20 points (8-of-14 FG) along with 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks; while Doumbia finished with 19 points and 3 blocks. Michael Imariagbe, who returned to the starting lineup in place of Norris, contributed 9 points and 7 rebounds. Alex Huibregtse, who came into the day leading the Horizon League in 3-point percentage at 45.2 percent, was held to only 7 points and made only of his 8 shot attempts from downtown.
Clint Sargent’s Raiders shot poorly all across the board: 44.8 percent overall from the floor (26-of-58), 21.7 percent from downtown (5-of-23), and 58.3 percent on free throws (7-of-12).
The Vikings were led by Chase Robinson’s 16 points off the bench. Arnett had 14 points and 7 rebounds, while Tevin Smith and Je’Shawn Stevenson had 12 points apiece. Ebrima Dibba messed around and had a near triple-double with 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists.
Cleveland State ended the afternoon with a field goal percentage of 49.1 percent (28-of-57), a solid 3-point percentage of 50 percent (9-of-18), and 68.4 percent from the foul line (13-of-19). They also outrebounded Wright State 34-30 and only committed 8 turnovers as opposed to WSU whom turned it over 10 times.
Up next: Wright State will kick off the new year at home for a battle with the Horizon League’s last place squad, the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix, on Thursday, January 2 at 7ET/6CT at the Nutter Center.
