Men's Basketball Final Shot: March 20

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (March 20):
CBI – Wright State 72, Tulsa 52
CIT – UIC 80, Chicago State 69
CIT – Bradley 75, Green Bay 69
NIT – (3) Arizona State 83, (6) Detroit 68

Wright State 72, Tulsa 52 (CBI)
Wright State picked up its first-ever Division I postseason win Wednesday night at WSU's Nutter Center, pulling away over the final 10 minutes for a 72-52 victory over Tulsa in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational Presented by Buick.

Both teams found the offense hard to come by in the early going as a Reggie Arceneaux three and a Matt Vest fast-break layup gave the Raiders a 16-12 advantage with 7:44 remaining in the first half.  James Woodard cut the deficit to one with a three-point play, only to see WSU answered with eight straight points, including threes by JT Yoho and Miles Dixon, to go up 24-15 at the 5:20 mark.

The margin gradually grew to 12 on a Kendall Griffin triple before Woodward followed with one of his own to make it 32-23 at the halftime break.

Wright State (22-12) shot 39 percent altogether in the opening 20 minutes, but hit seven of 14 three-point attempts while Tulsa shot 28 percent and was just one of six from three.

The Golden Hurricane, though, came out strong to start the second half and tied it at 36 on a D'Andre Wright free throw with 16:07 left.  While the Raiders never trailed in the final 20 minutes, it was still just a two-point contest at 45-43 at the 12:15 mark.

Baskets by Griffin, Dixon and Jerran Young, though, extended the lead to eight and a later Young triple made it 60-48 with 6:31 to play.  WSU later pushed the margin to as much 20 twice in the final two minutes.

The win was Wright State's first-ever postseason win in Division I in three tries.  The Raiders lost to Indiana in the NCAA Tournament in 1993 and to Pittsburgh in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.

Wright State shot 55 percent in the second half to finish at 47 percent overall, including nine of 19 from three, and hit 11 of 16 free throws compared to 35 percent shooting for Tulsa in the contest, four of 16 from behind the arc and 14 of 25 at the foul line.  WSU led 39-34 in rebounds, 30-18 in points in the paint and 19-2 in points off of turnovers.

Griffin led the Raiders with 15 points while Young had 14, all but two coming in the second half, along with eight rebounds.  Dixon chipped in 12 off the bench as the WSU reserves outscored the Golden Hurricane bench 29-19.

Scottie Haralson paced Tulsa (17-16) with 13 points while Woodard added 12 along with eight rebounds.

Wright State now faces Richmond, a 76-71 winner over Bryant, in the quarterfinals on Monday, March 25, at WSU's Nutter Center starting at 7:00.

UIC 80, Chicago State 69 (CIT)
UIC built a 22-point first-half lead, and held off a second half rally by visiting Chicago State to post an 80-69 win over the Cougars in the first-round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament Wednesday night at the Pavilion.

UIC (18-15) advanced to the second round of the CIT, where they will take on Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, Iowa on Saturday night. Wednesday night’s win was the first in UIC’s postseason history.

Senior guard Daniel Barnes collected his first-career double-double with a game-high 22 points to go along with a career-best 10 rebounds.  Senior center Josh Crittle scored 17 points and pulled down nine boards; junior forward Hayden Humes scored 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and senior point guard Gary Talton chipped in 12 points to go along with eight assists.  Chicago State was led by Matt Ross’ 19 points on six three-pointers.

UIC led 46-30 at halftime, building a game-high 22-point (44-22) lead with 2:49 remaining.  Barnes (12), Crittle (11) and Humes (10) all scored in double figures in the opening 20:00.  

Chicago State scored six-of the final eight points of the first half, and carried that momentum over to the outset of the second stanza.  The Cougars opened the frame on an 11-3 run, pulling within 49-41 with 15:07 remaining.  During the spurt, both teams were whistled for a pair of technical fouls after a short altercation.  Crittle was relegated to the bench after picking up his third personal foul.  

The Cougars responded with a commanding 18-10 spree, tying the score (59-59) with 7:30 left – Ross had three triples during the run.  Leading scorer Quinton Pippen gave CSU a 61-59 lead at the 7:00 mark, but UIC scored the ensuing nine points, opening up a 68-61 advantage with 3:45 remaining.  The Cougars pulled back within four (70-66) with 3:00 showing on the clock, but could draw no closer down the stretch.  UIC went 10-for-10 from the charity stripe in the final 2:53.

Tip-off between UIC and Northern Iowa is slated for 7:00 p.m. CST on Saturday night.  UIC holds a slight 11-10 all-time series advantage over UNI.

Bradley 75, Green Bay 69 (CIT)
Visiting Green Bay held a lead for much of the second half at Bradley on Wednesday night in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, but the host Braves, who are 13-4 at home this season, used a big advantage at the free-throw line to rally past the Phoenix 75-69 at Renaissance Coliseum.

The loss ends the season for the Phoenix (18-16), who was making its ninth postseason appearance.

Behind the outside shooting touch of junior Alec Brown and the play of freshman Jordan Fouse, Green Bay led 33-24 at halftime. Brown knocked down his first two three-pointers and had 12 of his 23 points in the first 20 minutes while Fouse had nine points and 10 rebounds at half. Brown finished the game 9-of-16 from the field and went over 1,200 points for his career.

Brown and sophomore Keifer Sykes got off to a strong start in the second half, putting the Phoenix ahead by 11 early in the period. After the Braves had closed to five points, senior Brennan Cougill capped a 6-1 spurt and Green Bay led 49-39 with 12:43 remaining.

The host Braves chipped away at the lead from there on the strength of 16 free throw makes in the final 12 and a half minutes. During a 14-2 Bradley run that turned a nine-point deficit into a 61-58 lead, leading scorer Walt Lemon, Jr. scored 10 points.

After a timeout from head coach Brian Wardle, Brown converted a layup and foul on the next possession to tie the game at 61-61 with 4:26 to play. Bradley’s Tyshon Pickett scored the next four points for the Braves before a layup from Sykes made it 65-63 at the 2:53 mark.

Green Bay forced a miss and then got the ball in the hands of Greg Mays, but the sophomore missed in the paint before a technical foul was whistled on the Phoenix bench. Lemon, Jr., made the two free throws before another Sykes bucket at the 1:15 mark.

The Phoenix forced a desperation three at the end of the shot clock, but the ball bounced off the bottom of the backboard right to Will Egolf, who scored for a four-point lead with 40 seconds left and the Braves closed the game at the free-throw line.

Sykes scored 10 points after halftime and finished with 18 points and five assists without committing a turnover for the Phoenix. With 539 points this season, Sykes scored the eighth-most points in a season by any Phoenix player and the most by any sophomore in team history. The First-Team All-Horizon League point guard will enter his junior season with 874 career points, more than any Phoenix player through his sophomore season except Tony Bennett and Dennis Woeffler.

Cougill scored all 10 of his points in the second half on Wednesday night and finished his two-year career with the Phoenix with 544 points and 368 rebounds.

(3) Arizona State 83, (6) Detroit 68 (NIT)
Detroit’s season came to an end Wednesday night with an 83-68 loss to third-seeded Arizona State in the opening round of the NIT at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Sun Devils led 46-27 at the half, before the Titans trimmed the lead to nine, 55-46, with 13 minutes left. But that was as close as the score would get as Arizona State (22-12) answered back with a 25-15 run to build an 80-61 lead with two minutes remaining.

Junior guard Jason Calliste led Detroit (20-13) with 19 points, four assists and three steals, while classmate Ray McCallum pitched in 16 points with four steals. Senior forward Doug Anderson added 12 points with three rebounds and two steals, while classmate Nick Minnerath pitched in seven points with a team-high four boards. Freshman Anton Wilson was active off the bench with nine points, one assist and one steal.

The Titans opened the game with four-straight free throws from McCallum and Calliste, as the score was tied 4-4 through the first three minutes of action. The Sun Devils then went on a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to build an 18-4 lead, as the Titans missed their first 10 shots. After two more free throws from Anderson made the score 18-6 with 12 minutes left the Sun Devils put together a 27-14 run to build their largest lead of the game 45-20 with 2:45 left in the half. The Titans closed the half with a 7-1 run, including a layup at the buzzer from McCallum, to make the score 46-27.

Detroit opened the second half with a 9-0 run including three-straight buckets from Anderson and a triple from Minnerath to force ASU to call a time out with 46-36 lead. The Sun Devils would stretch their lead to 55-42 with 13:35 left, before the Titans cut the deficit to nine, 55-46, after a McCallum layup and an Anderson dunk, but that was as close as the score would get.

Jahii Carson led the Sun Devils with a game-high 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Carrick Felix scored 21 points with seven boards.

Detroit shot just 34.5 percent (20-of-58) overall, including 10 percent (2-of-20) from downtown, while ASU shot 55.1 percent (27-of-49) overall and 41.7 percent (5-of-12) from deep. The Titans did start the game by making 19-straight free throw attempts, including 15-of-15 in the first half, before finishing 26-of-27 from the charity stripe. Detroit also forced 24 Sun Devil turnovers and recorded 12 steals, but ASU dominated on the boards 41-21.

Detroit, which recorded its third 20-win season over the last four years, will lose two seniors from this years squad, but look forward to adding sophomore guard Carlton Brundidge to the rotation after sitting out the season after transferring from Michigan.