The Wright State men’s basketball team tallied its sixth consecutive win overall and third straight Friday win to start a weekend series on Friday night in Chicago, winning 72-47 over UIC.
Friday night, Wright State (14-4 overall, 12-3 Horizon League) held UIC (8-8, 5-6 HL) scoreless for 10 minutes of game time coupled between the final 3:49 of the first half and the opening 5:58 of the second half to lock up control of the contest.
Loudon Love notched his second consecutive double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds, both game highs, after having nine and nine at the break. Friday night was his eighth double-double of the season and the 45th of his career. Love finished 9-of-17 from the floor and was 5-of-7 from the free throw stripe, adding two steals and two blocks to his final stat line.
Trey Calvin was the only other Raider in double figures with 12 points, adding five assists and two blocks of his own, but Wright State saw nine different players contribute to the scoring column overall. Grant Basile and Tim Finke each finished with nine points, as Basile grabbed 10 rebounds and Finke had seven of his own, while Jaylon Hall added eight points as well.
Paced by Love’s 23, the Raiders recorded 44 points inside the paint and got it done on the glass, outrebounding UIC 45-31, with 32 boards coming on the defensive end.
The first half was a clunky for both sides early and was tied at 17-all after the opening 10 minutes before the Raiders rolled off a 10-0 run to grab control. After neither side could find a bucket over the last 3:26 of the first half, Wright State took a 33-23 lead to the locker room before scoring the first 11 points of the final 20 minutes. The Raiders outscored UIC 17-4 over a stretch of 8:38 to begin the second half, including seeing Love chip in 10 of his 23 points, to push the advantage to 50-27 and effectively wrap things up.
Wright State finished the night shooting 46 percent (29-of-63) from the floor, including an even 50 percent in the second half, while going 5-of-14 (36 percent) from three-point range. The Raiders held UIC to just 33 percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes before the Flames finished the night at 37 percent (22-of-60) from the floor and only 2-of-18 from three-point range. The Raiders were 9-of-16 (56 percent) from the free throw line, with 12 trips to the stripe in the second half, while UIC was 1-of-4 for the night.
The Raiders forced 14 UIC turnovers, including eight in the first half, turning those into 11 points, while the visitors passed out 13 assists and had 10 second chance points off of their 13 offensive rebounds.
UIC’s Maurice Commander was the lone Flame to finish in double figures with 10 points, while Braelen Bridged had nine points of his own.
GAME RECAP COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETICS
