YOUNGSTOWN – Trey Calvin scored 20 points after the end of regulation, finishing with a career-high 44 points, but Youngstown State’s basket at the buzzer handed the Wright State men’s basketball team a 91-89 defeat in triple overtime Thursday night on the road in Horizon League action.
Calvin’s 44 points were one point shy of Wright State’s single-game record 45 points set by Bill Edwards in December 1992, while his 44 points were four points shy of the most points scored in a single NCAA Division I game this season.
Starting with the final basket to send the game to OT, Calvin either tied the game or gave the Raiders the lead on eight different occasions down the stretch. His 44 points marked the fifth 40-point game in the Horizon League this season.
Down two with less than 20 seconds remaining in the third overtime, Calvin hit a jumper in front of the Raider bench with six seconds left to knot the score at 89-all before Youngstown State’s Dwayne Cohill broke a Wright State double team in the backcourt and hit a basket as the final horn sounded to give the hosts the win.
The Raiders (13-11, 6-7 Horizon) now try to regroup for a Saturday night matchup at Robert Morris, while Youngstown State (18-6, 10-3 Horizon) hosts NKU Saturday.
Calvin’s heroics started at the end of regulation, when his jumper with 11 seconds to play tied the game at 63 before Brandon Noel blocked Cohill’s attempt on the other end to force the extra time. In the first overtime, Calvin again tied the score, this time with 58 seconds to play, before his three-point attempt in the final seconds was off the mark to go to the second overtime.
The second extra session had a frantic ending sequence, as Youngstown State led by three in the closing moments before a Cohill jumper rattled in and out as Noel grabbed the rebound and forwarded the ball upcourt to Alex Huibregtse at the top of the arc. Huibregtse flipped a pass to a sprinting Calvin, who connected on the tying three-pointer with five seconds remaining that forced the third overtime.
The loss was just the third triple overtime game in Wright State program history, and first in over 46 years, joining a January 4, 1977 home win over Northeastern Illinois (98-96 final score) and an 84-82 loss at Cumberland in November 20, 1970 – better known as the first game ever in Raider program history.
AJ Braun also finished in double figures for Wright State with 12 points, while Noel just missed a double-double with nine points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Tim Finke grabbed 10 rebounds of his own, adding five points.
The Raiders led for the majority of the first half, with Youngstown State holding the advantage for just 43 seconds in the opening 20 minutes as the host Penguins led 32-29 at the break thanks to a late first half basket. The second half was back-and-forth throughout, with both sides best scoring runs being a seven-point tally, while the second 20 minutes featured four ties and two lead changes.
The three overtimes saw a combined nine ties and six lead changes, with the biggest margin at any point being just four points, held by Youngstown State with just over three minutes to play in the third overtime before the final sequence of events unfolded.
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COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
