The Wright State Raiders men’s basketball team were up by as many as 18 in the first half, but they blew the big advantage and ended up with an 88-86 loss at the very last seconds of regulation.
WSU was up 20-17 with 12:27 to go in the first half, but they grew the lead thanks 13 unanswered points to go up 33-17 with five different Raiders scoring in that run: a three-pointer from Brandon Noel, a tip-in from Jack Doumbia, another made three from Alex Huibregtse, a three-point play from Drey Carter, and a dunk from Andrea Holden (on-DRAY). Later on near the end of the half, Clint Sargent’s crew went on another 8-0 run and ended up with the 50-34 lead going into the locker room.
A shot from Keaton Norris made it a 17-point cushion at 63-46 with 12:05 to go, but the Penguins (14-9, 8-4 Horizon) started to waddle back and went on an 11-1 run to cut the lead down to seven at 64-57 with 9:25 left. With just under five minutes left, YSU’s Cris Carroll and WSU’s Brandon Noel traded free throws to make it 76-69 Raiders. Then, YSU’s Nico Galette and WSU’s Jack Doumbia traded three-point plays to cut the deficit down to four at 79-72.
The boys from Youngstown then went on to score seven of the next nine points with a pair of free throws made by both EJ Farmer and Ty Harper, followed by a three-pointer from Juwan Maxey to make it an 81-79 affair with 2:07 left. Then, Doumbia and Gabe Dynes traded layups to make it 83-81 before a Solomon Callaghan free throw made it 84-81 with 1:14 remaining. However, Farmer connected on back-to-back layups to give YSU the 85-84 advantage with 19 seconds to go and their first lead since the 12:27 mark in the first half. Norris then hit a jumper with 11 seconds remaining to give Wright State the lead at 86-85, but Maxey responded right back with a three-pointer from the corner to give YSU the 88-86 with just 2.5 seconds to go.
Then, Logan Woods threw a good inbound pass to Huibregtse, who turned around and missed a potential game-winning three from the logo to end the game. It’s WSU’s seventh road loss in 10 tries this season and their sixth straight loss against Youngstown State.
The Raiders (11-12, 5-7 Horizon) were led by Noel’s game-highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds, which was his second-straight double-double and sixth of the season. Norris scoring 17 points on 3-of-5 three-point attempts to go along with five rebounds and six assists. Doumbia had 14 points, three rebounds and four assists off the bench, but turned it over five times. Huibregtse finished with 12 points, but shot 4-of-12 on three-pointers.
Wright State shot a very good 56.1 percent overall from the field (32-of-57), nailed 40.7 percent of their threes (11-of-27), and made 78.6 percent of their free throws (11-of-14). Out of their 11 made three-balls, nine of them came in the first half.
Youngstown State made 47.5 percent of their overall shots (29-of-61), 32.3 percent of their three-pointers (10-of-31), and 74.1 percent of their free throws (20-of-27). They were led by Farmer’s 23 points, seven rebounds, and four assists off the bench in his third game back after missing the last four contests with a lower leg injury. That was followed by 17 points from Harper, 15 points from Maxey, and 10 points from Carroll. Galette filled up the statsheet with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Up next: Wright State will return home to the Nutter Center for another weekend rematch with the Robert Morris Colonials on Sunday, February 2 at 2ET.
