Wright State University
7-4
Miami
2-7
Men Hold Off Miami 68-59
12/14/2014 5:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The Wright State men's basketball team led by 16 with 4:41 remaining, but had to hold off a late Miami rally before defeating the RedHawks 68-59 Sunday at WSU's Nutter Center.
Miami led in the early going before WSU went on a 15-0 run over a five-minute span, 11 of those coming from Grant Benzinger, to make it 17-5 with 11:08 remaining in the first half. The Raiders extended the advantage to 28-14 on a Steven Davis layup at the 2:53 mark and maintained that margin at the half at 30-16 on a JT Yoho layup in the final minute.
Wright State shot 59 percent in the opening 20 minutes while holding the RedHawks to 27 percent shooting.
Back-to-back threes by Will Sullivan drew Miami to within six at 39-33 with 11:34 to play, only to see the Raiders answer with six straight of their own and eventually take their biggest lead of the contest at 54-38 on a Joe Thomasson layup at the 4:41 mark.
A 13-2 RedHawk burst, however, cut the deficit to 56-51 with still 2:19 remaining and two Geovonie McKnight foul shots at the 32.7-second mark made it 61-57.
After both team exchanged baskets, two Mark Howell free throws with 22.5 seconds left put WSU up 65-59 and, after a steal, a Reggie Arceneaux foul shot made it three-possession game. Yoho rounded out the scoring with two free throws with 7.2 seconds to play.
The Raiders shot 56 percent for the game and hit 16 of 23 foul shots while Miami shot 42 percent and was 10 of 15 at the stripe. WSU also led 36-24 in points in the paint.
Yoho posted a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, tying a career high, to lead Wright State while Thomasson had 12 points, all in the second half, Benzinger 11 and Michael Karena 10.McKnight and Eric Washington paced Miami (2-7) with 16 points while Sullivan had 15.
Wright State (7-4) travels to Western Carolina Thursday at 7:00.
