LOUISVILLE, KY – Trey Calvin's pullup jumper as time expired gave the Wright State men's basketball team a 73-72 victory over Louisville on Saturday afternoon on the road.
The Raiders have now won their last three regular season matchups with ACC opponents, defeating Georgia Tech 85-81 in December 2017 before a 84-70 victory at North Carolina State last December.
Wright State (1-1) led in the first half and was within striking distance of Louisville (0-2) all afternoon, as the Raiders tallied the final six points over the last 63 seconds after being down as many as 10 early in the second half.
An El Ellis jumper with 1:32 to play gave Louisville a five-point lead at 72-67 with what turned out to be the final Cardinal basket of the afternoon. The next Raider possession saw
Brandon Noel convert a tip-in off a rebound following
Tim Finke's miss to pull Wright State to within three. After the Raiders forced a miss on a contested Louisville three-point attempt late in the shot clock, Noel set a screen and rolled to the basked with less than 15 seconds remaining and dunked it home off a Finke bounce pass to pull Wright State within one.
Following a timeout, Louisville's inbounds pass forced Ellis towards the Raider bench, where he was effectively quadruple teamed by a pair of Raiders, the sideline and baseline. The ball came loose and bodies hit the floor as Wright State tied up the ball and got a chance to win it thanks to the alternating possession.
With 8.4 seconds remaining, Calvin inbounded the ball and immediately got it back, using an
AJ Braun screen and defensive switch by Louisville to drive and take a step back jumper from just outside the elbow with 0.2 seconds left that found nothing but the bottom of the net and set off the Raider celebration.
Calvin's 17 points led four Raiders in double figures, with 13 points for Noel and 10 points each from Braun and
Alex Huibregtse. Braun saw 8 of his 10 come in the first 20 minutes, while Huibregtse collected seven of his points in the opening half. Noel, who recorded 11 points after the break, pulled down six rebounds while Huibregtse added six boards of his own.
Eight different Raiders scored in total, all finishing with five or more points, while Wright State shot 48 percent (31-65) from the floor overall with five three-pointers (5-16, 31 percent). Louisville shot 51 percent on six less possessions (30-59) and had five threes of its own (5-18, 28 percent). The sides combined for only 19 free throw attempts (6-11 WSU, 7-8 Louisville).
The biggest difference in the box score came off the bench, as the Raider reserves recorded 34 points behind the double digit efforts of Huibregtse and Noel, while Louisville had just seven bench points as Wright State also doubled up the hosts in second chance points, 12-6. Despite the size difference, the Raiders pulled down 32 rebounds and tallied 42 points in the paint as Louisville only finished with 35 boards and 44 paint points.
Wright State returns home for a pair of contests inside the Nutter Center next week, hosting Bowling Green on Tuesday night before welcoming Defiance in for a Thursday meeting. Both contests will tip at 7 p.m. and both will be available on ESPN+.
