The Wright State men’s basketball team led by as many as 10 in the first half, but they ended up missing big shots down the stretch and ended up with an 91-84 loss on the road against the IU Indy Jaguars on Saturday. It was also Senior Day at the Corteva Coliseum for graduate students Paul Zilinskas and Jarvis Walker.
Down 19-17, Wright State took the lead and then some at 27-19 with a 10-0 run thanks to a go-ahead three-pointer from Andrew Welage, a two-pointer from Alex Huibregtse, a dunk from Brandon Noel, and another three from Keaton Norris. Near the end of the half, Michael Imariagbe and Sean Craig traded layups as WSU went into the locker room with a 44-37 advantage.
The Jaguars were ready to pounce as they opened the second half scoring six of the first eight points with a Keenan Garner layup and four made free throws from Zilinskas, with another Imariagbe layup in between, to pull the game to within three points at 46-43 with 17:30 to go. The Raiders extending the lead back to as many as nine at 52-43 with 16:40 left with another Norris three followed by a three-point play from Noel, but the Jaguars (10-21, 6-14 Horizon) eventually cut the deficit down to five before and then scored 12 unanswered points to take a 70-63 lead courtesy of back-to-back layups and and a game-tying free throw Walker, a go-ahead three from Craig, another pair of free throws from Walker, and a Garner layup with 7:11 to play to force a WSU timeout.
The Raiders got within two at 82-80 with 2:35 to play with back-to-back threes from Noel and Huibregtse hit back-to-back threes, but Walker earned a trip to the foul line after a Huibregtse foul and nailed both attempts to make it 84-80. After Noel got threw down a dunk at the other end, Paul Corsaro’s Jaguars went on another 7-0 run with a Zilinskas layup, a three from Walker, and free throws by Craig to put the cream cheese on the bagel. Imariagbe’s putback layup with one second to go was the final points of the game.
All 10 players that saw action for Clint Sargent’s Raiders ended up scoring. Imariagbe had his best game of the season with 18 points (8-of-10 FG), 11 rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. Noel led WSU with 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting, 19 points (5-of-13 3-PT FG) and five assists for Huibregtse; six points, seven assists and two steals for Norris; and eight points off the bench from Logan Woods.
Zilinskas – the Horizon League’s top three-point shooter coming into the day – led all scorers with 31 points on 11-of-18 shooting, including going 4-of-8 from three-land and nailing all five of his free throw tries. Walker ended the day with 25 points (8-of-16 FG) and five assists, with 17 points and seven rebounds from Craig, followed by nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds from Garner.
Wright State finished the afternoon shooting 53.1 percent overall (34-of-64) and 38.7 percent on threes (12-of-31), while IU Indy shot 49.3 percent from the field (34-of-69) and 37.5 percent from downtown (9-of-24).
The big difference of the afternoon came at the charity stripe, with WSU at 66.7 percent (4-of-6) and IUI at 87.5 percent (14-of-16).
Note: It’s the 5th time this season that the Wright State men’s and women’s basketball teams have lost on the exact same day, with Kari Hoffman’s ladies getting beat by Robert Morris at home 73-57. Blake Schumaker has the full recap on the women’s game.
Up next: The Raiders will be at home for the 1st Round of the 2025 Horizon League Tournament as part of a doubleheader featuring 8-9 matchups, with the women playing Youngstown State at 5:30ET and the men playing IU Indy again at 8ET/7CT.
