Final scores
– Women’s game: IU Indy 75, Wright State 63
– Men’s game: Purdue-Fort Wayne 120, Wright State 113 (double overtime)
The Wright State Raiders basketball teams both ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard on Wednesday night. The women’s team lost on the road against the IU Indy Jaguars 75-63, while the men’s team suffered a 120-113 loss at home against the Purdue-Fort Wayne Mastodons in a double overtime thriller that felt like a video game. It’s the third time this season that both WSU squads have lost games on the exact same day.
On the road in Indianapolis, fourth-year head coach Kari Hoffman and her Raider women (4-15, 2-7 Horizon) were up 10-7 early in the first quarter on IU Indy (5-13, 4-5 Horizon). But the Jaguars pounced right back on both sides of the ball by taking the 16-10 lead on an 11-0 run near the end of the period, played stingy defense, and never relinquished the lead from that point forward. The Jags then went on a 13-0 run from the end of the second quarter to the start of the third quarter, were up by as many as 26, and the rest was history.
The craziest part of the night came with 4:31 to go in the fourth with the Jags up 67-51, which is when WSU full court pressed on defense as IU Indy’s Shania Nichols-Vannett ran into a double team of Macie Taylor and Ellie Magestro-Kennedy. But when Taylor jumped up to contest the pass, her knee accidentally hit Nichols-Vannett in the face. Nichols-Vannett was bleeding as a result of that before getting escorted off the court and did not return to the game.
The WSU women went “Cookin’ with Kiya” as Makiya Miller led the squad with 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting along with a career-high of four steals. Lauren Scott was the other Raider in double-figure scoring with 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, while Amaya Staton finished with eight points and six rebounds along with a block.
Wright State connected on 44.6 percent on their overall shots (25-of-56), an abysmal 12.5 percent of their three-pointers (2-of-16), and 68.8 percent of their free throws (11-of-16). Also, they turned the ball over a season-high 23 times and have lost all nine of their games away from the Nutter Center.
The Jaguars, who have now won four of their last six games, had three players score in double-figures: 17 points from Nichols-Vannett and Katie Davidson, followed by 14 points from Nevaeh Foster. Jada Patton contributed with nine points and five assists off the bench.
Kate Bruce’s IU Indy team shot 47.5 percent from the field (28-of-59), 47.1 percent from beyond the arc (8-of-17), but they did make an outstanding 78.6 percent of their foul shots (11-of-14). Although they did commit 22 turnovers, IU Indy still outrebounded Wright State 29-27 and outscored their bench 35-14.
Meanwhile back home, the men’s team and first-year head coach Clint Sargent (9-10, 3-5 Horizon) had an epic battle with one of the Horizon League’s best teams in Purdue-Fort Wayne (14-6, 7-2 Horizon).
The WSU men were up by 10 early in the first half and led 48-42 at halftime, but PFW turned the tables and outscored the Raiders 48-42 in the second half that was led by an 8-0 run. However, Wright State countered with a 9-0 run in their own right and took the one-point lead at 70-69 with 8:40 to go. With 52 seconds left in regulation, WSU’s Jack Doumbia and PFW’s Jalen Jackson each hit a pair of free throws to tie it up at 90 all before Rasheed Bello missed a layup that would’ve won the game for the Mastodons.
The Raiders were up 105-101 in the first overtime with 13 seconds left after Andrew Welage hit a pair of foul shots, but the lead was cut down to two after Chandler Cuthrell threw down an alley-oop dunk off a textbook lob pass from Quinton Morton-Robertson. Then, Jackson stole the ball from Keaton Norris and took it to the tin to knot it up at 105, which sent it to double overtime.
In the second overtime, Morton-Robertson scored eight of the Mastodons’ 15 points in the period, and the road team ended the night on a 12-4 run to leave the Nutter Center victorious.
Both teams ended the night with five players scoring in double-figures. Alex Huibregtse (HUE-bricks), who missed Sunday’s loss at Robert Morris because of a back injury, returned with a vengeance by scoring a game-high 31 points while going 7-of-14 from beyond the arc and became the 39th member of Wright State’s 1,000-Point Club after scoring his 11th point of the game at the nine-minute point of the first half.
Doumbia finished with a double-double off the bench with 23 points (all in the second half) and 13 rebounds. Brandon Noel (noll) finished with 23 points (11-of-17 FG) and nine rebounds, Logan Woods scored 12 of his 14 points in the first half (6-of-10 FG), and Welage scored 11 points off the bench while shooting 3-of-5 from downtown. Norris finished with three points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Huibregtse and Noel both played 47 of the 50 minutes, while Doumbia and Norris turned the ball over five times each.
The Wright State men shot a good 50 percent overall from the field (42-of-84) and 81 percent at the charity stripe (17-of-21), but they only made 37.5 percent of their three-pointers (12-of-32) and committed 16 turnovers.
Jackson, who came in as the Horizon League’s leading scorer, led Jon Coffman’s Mastodons with 30 points on 10-of-20 shots from the field along with seven rebounds and three steals. Bello played 49 of 50 minutes, dropping 27 points and hitting 5-of-6 shots from beyond the arc to go along with eight assists and a pair of steals. Cuthrell earned his first start of the season and had the best game of his entire college career, finishing with 20 points and 16 rebounds while going 7-of-10 from the field and nailing all six of his free throw attempts. Morton-Robertson scored 16 points on 4-of-10 three-point tries, Corey Hadnot II contributed with 17 points in 38 minutes off the bench, and Trey Lewis had eight points off the bench in 17 minutes of action.
Purdue-Fort Wayne was solid shooting overall as they made 53.2 percent of their shots (42-of-79), 48.5 percent of their trey balls (16-of-33) and 80 percent of their free throws (20-of-25). Also, they only committed seven turnovers as a unit.
Wright State outrebounded Purdue-Fort Wayne 49-35 and outscored their bench 40-27.
Here’s the link to watch the post-game press conference with comments from Huibregtse, Noel, and Sargent:
Up next for Wright State:
– The men’s team will make a short road trip to visit the conference rival Northern Kentucky Norse on Saturday, January 18 at 2ET/1CT at Truist Arena in Highland Heights, KY.
– The women’s team will go for their third straight home win as the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix come to town for at 7ET/6CT tip-off at the Nutter Center in Dayton, OH on Thursday, January 23.
– Both games can be seen on ESPN Plus.
