Welage's winner caps Sunday Raider comeback

Sunday, February 2

Dayton, OH

2 PM

Wright State University

12-12,6-7Horizon

Robert Morris

16-8,8-5Horizon

Robert Morris

Wright St.

Photo by: Jordan Wommack

2/2/2025 5:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

DAYTON – Andrew Welage connected on a runner through traffic with 11 seconds to play to help give the Wright State men's basketball team a 66-64 home victory over Robert Morris inside the Nutter Center on Sunday afternoon.

Wright State (12-12, 6-7 Horizon) closed the afternoon on a 10-0 scoring run over the final two and a half minutes, with Welage driving straight down the lane in the closing seconds before pump faking and working around a pair of Robert Morris (16-8, 8-5 Horizon) defenders to give the Raiders what turned out to be the lead for good. The Raiders played solid defense on the other end in RMU's opportunity on the other end, with Jack Doumbia and Logan Woods combining to alter a final shot attempt and seal the win.

The Raider win snapped Robert Morris' six-game winning streak and moved Wright State to 8-3 this season at home inside the Nutter Center. Wright State will look to keep its momentum going with a Wednesday night road contest at Purdue Fort Wayne.

The Raiders had a 7-2 scoring run early in the second half to take a one-point lead at 43-42 with 15 minutes remaining, but Robert Morris answered with 13 of the next 15 points to push the margin to 10 at 55-45 with just over 10 minutes to play. RMU used a three-point play with 2:40 remaining to go back up by eight but didn't score a single point from there, with the Wright State defense clamping down to force the visitors to 0-of-3 shooting down the stretch with a pair of turnovers.

Wright State began its final run with a pair of Keaton Norris free throws and a layup from Brandon Noel before Alex Huibregtse connected on a three-pointer to pull the Raiders within one at 64-63 with 1:54 to play. Both sides got silent for multiple possessions from there, with Wright State grabbing a rebound after DJ Smith missed the front end of a one-and-one to set up the final sequence and the winner from Welage.

The Raiders led for just 3:41 seconds of action and shot just 40 percent, but won the rebounding battle 36-30 with 15 offensive boards leading to 17 second chance points. Wright State also had balanced scoring, with all nine Raiders who saw action turning in a bucket as they tallied 28 bench points.

Noel led Wright State with 17 points, adding four rebounds, as the lone Raider in double figures, with Michael Imariagbe turning in nine points off the bench with five rebounds and a pair of blocks. Solomon Callaghan and Welage each added eight points with a pair of three-pointers for both players, while Alex Huibregtse used a pair of three-points of his own for six points, adding five rebounds and three assists.

Three Raiders each had five points: Andrea Holden added four rebounds to his five points, with Woods tallying three rebounds and three assists with his five and Norris grabbing three steals and passing out two assists as he collected all five of his points at the free throw line. Doumbia chipped in three points to go along with his six rebounds.

Wright State finished 23-of-57 shooting on the way to the 40 percent mark, going 50 percent from three-point range (8-of-16) and 71 percent (12-of-17) at the free throw line. Defensively, the Raiders held RMU to 39 percent overall shooting in the second half, with the visitors shooting 46 percent (24-of-52) for the afternoon with a 7-of-17 (41 percent) mark from deep and a 56 percent (9-of-16) total at the free throw stripe.

Kam Woods had 22 points to lead Robert Morris, who also had 17 points from Amarion Dickerson in the loss.