Detroit Keeps Pace with Win at Wright State

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard
Detroit 71, Wright State 55

In the final Horizon League men’s basketball game before the Sears BracketBusters, Detroit kept pace in trying to position itself for the No. 3 seed in the League Tournament, collecting a 71-55 win at Wright State on Wednesday night.

Detroit (16-12, 10-6 Horizon) moved into a tie for third place in the standings with Butler, and due to its season sweep of the Bulldogs, the Titans would be the No. 3 seed if the League Tournament started now.

Wright State (12-16, 7-9 Horizon) fell to eighth in the League standings; looking to grab a home game in the conference tournament, the Raiders will have to win their final two League games and get help from the teams in front of them.

Detroit found itself trailing 33-28 in the latter stages of the first half after Kendall Griffin found Armond Battle for three-pointer with 3:49 left in the half, but closed on a 12-0 burst to take a 40-33 lead into the locker room.

Consecutive three-pointers from Chase Simon and Ray McCallum put the Titans out front, 34-33, and free throws from Eli Holman and Doug Anderson pushed the lead to five. Simon closed the half with a layup as Detroit shot 57 percent in the first 20 minutes.

Trying to come back from a seven-point deficit, Wright State was stymied by a 25-percent shooting effort after drawing within 40-37 on a Johann Mpondo layup.

Anderson helped push the Titans’ lead back into double digits, skying for an alley-oop from McCallum and hitting a jumper to give Detroit a 49-39 advantage. Jason Calliste would drill a three to make it a 52-41 game, and the Raiders never drew within double figures the rest of the game.

The Titans would lead by as many as 17 points in collecting their ninth win in the last 11 games. Calliste hit three triples en route to a team-high 14 points. Four Titans were in double figures scoring as Holmanadded 12, Anderson 11 and Simon 10. Holman had his third double-double of the season with 10 rebounds to go along with his dozen points.

Julius Mays led all scorers with 16 points, while Battle chipped in 11.