By Bert Leeson

3 7 2024

BOX SCORE

https://wsuraiders.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=9670

72,598 Brandon Noel WSU center Tough loss. What happened at end of regulation for NKU to tie game. NKU 99 WSU 97 HL QF 3 7 2024.mp3

72,601 AJ Braun WSU Forward What was working in the 1st half when up 21-6, shooting 61% NKU 99 WSU 97 HL QF 3 7 2024.mp3

72,603 AJ Braun & Brandon Noel WSU On season with high hopes with Trey Calvin & Tanner Holden back for 5th years and team only finished 18-14. NKU 99 WSU 97 HL QF 3 7 2024.mp3

DAYTON – The Wright State men’s basketball team got off to a hot start on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Barbasol Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship, but a late basket by Northern Kentucky forced overtime and the Raiders fell 99-97 after a would-be game-winning shot hit front rim.

Wright State ends its season at 18-14 overall, while the careers of Trey Calvin and Tanner Holden come to a close. The Nos. 2 and 3 scorers in Raider program history, Calvin finishes with 2,139 points in the Green & Gold while Holden ends his collegiate career with exactly 2,100 points – 2,003 of them coming as a Raider. The pair also liter the Top 5 in a multitude of additional categories inside the Wright State record book.

In the final minute of regulation, Northern Kentucky (18-14) led by one before Calvin gave the Raiders a one-point lead with 35 seconds remaining on a jumper before he extended the lead to three at 89-86 with a pair of free throws with 15 seconds to go. Northern Kentucky made the first of two free throws with four seconds left in regulation, and then, down two, saw the intentional missed shot bounce off sets of hands and into the air before Randall Pettus came down and back up with it to make a shot to tie the game with a second remaining.

In overtime, Northern Kentucky led by five twice, including with 23 seconds remaining, before a Holden three-pointer cut the margin to 99-97 with 11 seconds to go. Pettus missed both free throws after being fouled to give the Raiders one final look. Holden streaked up the court off the rebound before being cut off by three NKU players just inside the three-point line, where he found Alex Huibregtse, who was able to get off a contested three-point attempt in the final moments, but the shot hit front iron and bounced off as the horn sounded.

Wright State jumped out to a 17-2 run over the first five-plus minutes of the game and led by 17 late in the first half before NKU closed the half with eight of the last 10 points before intermission and the Raiders led 40-33 at the break. Wright State led by as many as nine early in the second half before Northern Kentucky chipped away at the margin, tying the game at 71-all with 6:47 to play in regulation on a Marques Warrick three-pointer that set up the closing minutes and eventual overtime.

Holden finished with a team-high 24 points and added 10 rebounds for a final double-double, also tallying six assists and three steals. Calvin had 20 points of his own before fouling out in overtime, while Huibregtse also had 20 points. AJ Braun and Brandon Noel each just missed double-doubles of their own, with Braun notching 18 points and nine rebounds while Noel had 10 points and eight boards.

Wright State shot 51.4 percent (37-of-72) overall from the floor while connecting on 8-of-21 (38 percent) of its three-point attempts. The Raiders were 71.4 percent (15-of-21) from the free throw line. Northern Kentucky finished the night shooting 53.7 percent (36-of-67) overall and was 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) from three-point range and 75.0 percent (18-of-24) from the free throw line.

The Raiders outrebounded NKU 40-34 and had 17 assists on their 37 made baskets.

Warrick finished with 35 points to pace four Northern Kentucky players in the win.

COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS