The Wright State Raiders men’s basketball team, the defending undisputed Horizon League Champions, were shining under the Friday Night Lights with an impressive 90-66 win over the Samford Bulldogs (1-2) at the Pete Hanna Center in Homewood, AL. In the process, the Raiders improved to 4-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season when Ed Schilling was in his final year at the helm.
Sophomore Kellen Pickett flirted with a triple-double consisting of 16 points, seven rebounds, a career-high six assists, two steals, and a block.
DePaul transfer Ilija Milijaševic had the game of his life with career-highs of 17 points and five made threes in nine attempts, plus eight rebounds and three steals in 28 minutes off the bench.
WSU also had 14 points and seven rebounds from sophomore Andrea Holden, nine points each for Green Bay transfer C.J. O’Hara and freshman Terrence Hayes Jr., and eight points each and four assists for College of Charleston transfer Chadlyn Traylor.
Clint Sargent’s Raiders shot a solid 57.1 percent (36-of-63) from the field, 50 percent (9-of-18) on threes, and 90 percent (9-of-10) on free throws. They also outrebounded Samford 39-28, scored 52 of their 90 points in the paint, and shot 62.5 percent (20-of-32) from the field in the second half.
Lennie Acuff’s Bulldogs were solid from the foul line at 71.4 percent (15-of-21), but they shot poorly from the field at 39 percent (23-of-59) and from three-point range at 19.2 percent (5-of-26).
Redshirt senior Will Shaver led Samford with 15 points and shot 7-of-8 from the field while adding four rebounds and three blocks. Cornell grad transfer Cooper Noard scored 10 points, while Creighton transfer Ty Davis and sophomore Isaiah Campbell-Finch scored nine points each. Junior Cade Norris, the younger brother of former Wright State point guard Keaton Norris, finished with seven points and eight rebounds.
Samford jumped out to an early 7-4 lead following a layup from Shaver and a three from Hoard, but Pickett answered back with a three of his own to tie the game at seven apiece. The Bulldogs then scored 15 of the game’s next 21 points, including six straight points courtesy of a Brandon Fussell layup, a free throw from George Najimi, and a three-point play from Noard. Just like that, the home team built a nine-point advantage midway through the first half at 22-13 with 9:19 to go.
Wright State steadily bit away at Samford’s lead and scored seven unassisted points with a three from Milijaševic, a Holden layup, and a Pickett tip-in to get WSU to within two at 22-20 at the 7:17 mark. Later on, the green and gold took the lead for good after an 8-0 run as Hayes knocked down a triple to knot it at 30 all with before Isaiah Williams made a pair of foul shots and O’Hara hit a three of his own to make it 35-30 with 2:17 left in the first stanza. After Samford got to within one with a Shaver dunk and a Davis layup, O’Hara’s second three-pointer and two more made free throws from Williams helped Wright State take a 40-34 lead into the locker room.
Wright State’s hot shooting continued into the second half as they opened the second stanza with a shot from Holden and a three-ball from Milijasevic to push the lead to 45-34 and cap off a 10-0 run.
Later on, the Raiders continued to build on their lead with a 7-0 run with a layup from Traylor, followed by free throws and a three by Pickett at the 16:25 mark to make it 54-37. Wright State led by as many as 31 points near the end of the game in the second half and basically never looked back.
Up next: Wright State will head back home to host Division II opponent Malone University on Wednesday, November 18 at 7:30pm ET at the Nutter Center.
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