12/4/2022

DAYTON – Brandon Noel turned in his sixth double-digit scoring game of the season and finished one point shy of a career-high with 22 points Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough for the Wright State men’s basketball team, who fell 88-77 to Youngstown State inside the Nutter Center.
 
Noel finished the afternoon shooting 8-of-11 with eight rebounds, two steals and a block for a complete stat line, as AJ Braun (17 points) and Amari Davis (14 points) were also in double figures scoring for the Raiders (5-4, 0-2 Horizon).
 
Wright State, who led 36-32 at the half, used a Noel jumper and a Tim Finke layup to push its lead to 56-51 with 10:27 remaining, only to see Youngstown State (6-3, 1-1 Horizon) score the next seven points to take the lead with just over nine minutes to play. The Raiders tied the game twice over the next minute-plus of game action, but a three-pointer from the Penguins’ Brandon Rush gave the visitors the lead for what turned out to be for good at 63-60.
 
Over the next 1:50, Youngstown State hit a pair of shots from the floor and was 5-of-5 from the free throw stripe to push the lead to 10 before Wright State responded with a 6-2 run over the next 82 seconds to pull to within six at 74-68 with 4:18 remaining. The Raider run was answered by a 7-2 clip from Youngstown State, all coming from Dwayne Cohill, that held Wright State off down the stretch.
 
Noel recorded 14 of his 22 in the first half, while Davis tallied 10 of his 14 in the second 20 minutes. Aside from the trio in double digits, Finke notched nine points, adding five rebounds, while Trey Calvin finished with seven points and five assists and Keaton Norris chipped in six points.
 
Wright State finished the afternoon shooting 45 percent (35-71) from the floor with three three-pointers (3-15, 20 percent), while Youngstown State connected at 54 percent (29-54) overall with a 44 percent mark (10-23) from three-point range. The Raiders were 10-of-13 from the free throw line (77 percent) compared to YSU’s 20-of-22 mark (91 percent).
 
The Raiders outrebounded Youngstown State 34-31, including a 14-5 advantage on the offensive glass that they turned into 12 second chance points. Behind Noel and Braun, Wright State tallied 40 points in the paint.
 
Cohill finished with 43 points to lead three Youngstown State players in double figures, with 15 from Malek Green and 12 points from Bryce McBride.
 
Wright State now pauses for final exams this week before returning to action on the road next Saturday, December 10 as the Raiders travel to take on Western Kentucky. Five of Wright State’s next six contests will come on the road from December 10 through January 2, with the lone home contest on Saturday, December 17, a 3 p.m. afternoon matchup with Northwestern Ohio.

COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS