2/23/2023

ROCHESTER, MI – Brandon Noel tallied his 10th double-double of the season and sixth game with 20 or more points to lead three Raiders in double figures but the Wright State men’s basketball team fell 75-68 at Oakland on Thursday night in Horizon League action.
 
Noel finished with 24 points and a game-best 10 rebounds to collect the double-double, which is his eighth in Horizon League play, the most in the conference. He tallied 17 of his 24 points in the second half after grabbing seven rebounds over the opening 20 minutes of play.
 
Wright State (16-14, 9-10 Horizon) wraps up the regular season slate on Saturday afternoon with a visit to Detroit Mercy in a 1 p.m. tipoff.
 
The Raiders led by as many as 10 early in the first half after a strong start and led 32-30 at the break before the back-and-forth second half. Tied at 47-all with 11:44 to play, Wright State scored eight straight points as part of a larger, 10-3 run to lead 57-50 with just over eight minutes remaining. Oakland (13-17, 11-8 Horizon) was forced to take a timeout to break the Raider run and responded with a run of its own, tallying nine of the next 11 points to tie the game at 59-all with 4:47 remaining. The hosts took the lead for what turned out to be for good on a Jalen Moore free throw moments later, as Oakland closed the night on a 16-9 run.
 
Alex Huibregtse finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including a trio of three-pointers, for his second straight double-digit scoring output and third in the last four outings, while Andrew Welage chipped in 10 points as both pulled down four rebounds. AJ Braun added four rebounds of his own to go along with his seven points, while Trey Calvin added six points and passed out five assists.
 
Amari Davis got back into the scoring column with four points, with his first half jumper at the 10:50 mark his 1,500th career collegiate point.
 
Wright State finished the night shooting 43 percent from the floor (25-65) while connecting on five three-pointers (5-21, 24 percent). The Raiders held Oakland to 31 percent first half shooting before the hosts finished the night at 39 percent (24-62) overall while tallying six three-pointers (6-24, 25 percent). The difference in the night came at the free throw stripe, where the Raiders had just 10 total attempts (7-10) and Oakland recorded 26 trips to the line (21-26, 81 percent) including 18 attempts in the second half.

COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS