3/3/2022
DAYTON – The Wright State men’s basketball team used a 20-0 run midway through the second half to storm back for a 75-63 win over Oakland in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Keeps Horizon League Championship inside the Nutter Center on Thursday night.
Wright State advances to take on top-seeded Cleveland State on Monday night in the semifinals, with tipoff set for 7 p.m. inside the Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. The game will also be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Wright State (19-13), the tournament’s No. 4 seed, scored the first four points of Thursday night but trailed by eight at the break to No. 5 seeded Oakland (20-12). The visiting Golden Grizzlies scored eight of the first 10 second half points and led by 13 with 13-plus to play. Wright State then rolled off 20 unanswered points behind seven points from both Trey Calvin and Tanner Holden, along with six points from Grant Basile, while forcing Oakland to a 0-of-8 shooting mark with a pair of turnovers over the five-minute stretch that saw the Raiders pull ahead 55-48.
Oakland’s Jalen Moore hit one of two free throws with 6:44 remaining to stop the run, but the Raiders continued the offensive onslaught by scoring eight of the next 10 points to stretch the advantage to double figures at 63-51. A Moore three-pointer pulled Oakland within nine, but Andrew Welage’s driving layup with 3:24 to go pushed the Raider lead to double digits for good.
When all was said and done, Wright State scored 40 of the last 55 points over the closing 12 and a half minutes and saw four players finish in double-figures scoring with a pair of double-double performances from Basile and Holden.
Holden led the way with a game-high 27 points, including 17 in the second half that all came over that final 12-plus minute stretch, while he added 10 rebounds and was 13-of-17 from the free throw stripe. Basile tallied 12 of his 18 points in the second half and pulled down 11 rebounds of his own, with Calvin notching 16 points along with five assists and three rebounds of his own. Welage was the final Raider in double-digits, connecting on a trio of three-pointers on the way to 11 points off the bench.
The shooting numbers for Wright State and Oakland were nearly identical, as both sides shot 41 percent, but the percentages flipped each half, as the visitors shot 52 percent in the first 20 minutes before being held to 31 percent in the second half. The Raiders were only 31 percent shooters in the first half before connecting at a 52 percent clip in the final 20 minutes. Neither side shot particularly well from deep, as Wright State was 6-of-21 (29 percent) and Oakland was just 3-of-20 (15 percent). The free theow stripe was nearly identical as well, with the Raiders at 81 percent (17-of-21) and Oakland at 80 percent (16-of-20).
Wright State finished the night with a 39-33 advantage on the glass, outrebounding Oakland 15-8 on the offensive glass while the visitors had a 25-24 margin on the defensive glass.
Micah Parrish led Oakland with 20 points as four players finished with all the scoring for the Golden Grizzlies and all were in double digits. Jamal Cain notched 17 points and 15 rebounds before fouling out, while Jalen Moore had 16 points and Trey Townsend added 11.
COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
