DAYTON – Down as many as 15 points in the second half, the Wright State men’s basketball team rallied back to end the night on a 34-14 run on the way to a 90-85 victory over Detroit Mercy inside the Nutter Center in front of a national audience on ESPN2.
Wright State (9-7, 2-3 Horizon) saw Trey Calvin tally 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, while Brandon Noel had a monster double-double with his 18-point, 17-rebound effort as the Raiders rallied from down 71-56 with 9:17 to play.
The win was Calvin’s seventh performance of 20-plus points this season, including each of the last four contests, while Noel notched a new career-high in rebounds for the second straight contest after his 15 rebound effort at IUPUI earlier this week. Noel’s scoring production marked his 10th double-digit scoring game this season.
The Raiders now look to keep their momentum rolling with a Sunday afternoon matchup against Oakland, who grabbed a road win at Northern Kentucky on Friday night. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. inside the Nutter Center on Sunday.
Detroit Mercy (6-10, 2-3 Horizon) controlled much of the first half and used a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to take an eight-point lead into the locker room. The visitors scored nine of the first 11 points in the second half to extend their advantage, getting it up to the 15-point spread with just over nine minutes remaining.
A Tim Finke bucket got the Raider comeback started, as Wright State rolled off six straight points to pull within single digits at 71-62. Noel tallied seven straight points over a minute and a half stretch, adding an old-fashioned three-point play into the personal run, before he and Calvin each tallied a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to two with 5:41 to play.
Following a Detroit Mercy miss that was corralled by Noel, the Raiders tied the game at 73-all on a Calvin step-back jumper before Wright State took its first lead since late in the first half moments later as Noel found a cutting Calvin for an open layup and the 75-73 advantage. Antoine Davis scored the next eight points for Detroit Mercy to give the visitors the lead at 81-80 in what turned out to be their last lead. After a pair of Raider misses, Noel poked away the ball from Detroit Mercy from behind to give Wright State another possession, with Andrew Welage’s turnaround jumper from just outside the paint giving the Raiders what turned out to be the lead for good with 2:12 remaining.
Wright State connected on eight of 10 free throws down the stretch as Detroit Mercy was held scoreless from the floor, only tallying four final points from Antoine Davis at the free throw line.
Amari Davis joined Calvin and Braun in double figures for the Raiders, scoring all 12 of his points in the first half, while Finke finished with nine points, adding six rebounds and three assists while playing the majority of the second half in foul trouble. Alex Huibregtse tallied eight points, all in the opening 20 minutes, and Welage also finished with eight points and the pair combined for 16 of the Raiders’ 18 bench scoring production.
Wright State shot 55 percent in the first half on the way to a 49 percent (34-69) overall shooting night. The Raiders were 3-of-13 (23 percent) from three-point range, instead tallying 44 points in the paint while going 19-of-26 (73 percent) from the free throw stripe, including a 15-of-18 mark in the second half.
Defensively, the Raiders held Detroit Mercy to 45 percent shooting overall (33-74) but just 36 percent in the second half, while the visitors were 9-of-28 (32 percent) from three-point range and 10-of-14 (71 percent) from the free throw line.
Antoine Davis finished with 27 points for Detroit Mercy but needed 25 shots to do so (9-25), while the visitors saw four players notch double digits, including 24 points from Jayden Stone.
COURTESY WSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
