WSU, Detroit Open Subregionals with Wins

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 22)
Wright State 75, Houston Baptist 59 (CBE Classic)
Detroit 77, Florida Atlantic 44 (2k Sports Classic)

Both Wright State and Detroit opened tournament subregionals with double-digit wins, giving Horizon League teams a 2-0 Friday night.

Wright State 75, Houston Baptist 59 (CBE Classic)
A 20-5 run midway through the second half helped Wright State pull away from Houston Baptist, 75-59, in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic subregional from Mobile, Ala.

Wright State (3-2) put four players into double figures, led by Steven Davis’s career-high 17 points. Miles Dixon had 16 and Reggie Arceneaux 15 for the Raiders, while Kendall Griffin added 10. Davis and Arceneaux enabled the WSU bench to outscore its Houston Baptist counterparts, 38-17.

The Raiders forced 22 Huskies turnovers, converting the miscues into 33 points.

Trailing 40-38 2:19 into the second half, Wright State started its run on a layup from Kendall Griffin to tie the game. Consecutive 3-pointers from Arceneaux and Dixon pushed the Raiders’ edge to 46-40 before Houston Baptist answered.

Up 48-45, Griffin drained a 3-pointer to bring the lead back to six before a 5-0 burst by Dixon gave Wright State its first double-digit lead of the night, 56-45, with 11:24 remaining. An Arceneaux jumper capped the run.

Wright State’s led would be trimmed to seven on two occasions, but an Arceneux three brought the edge to 67-57 with 1:54 left.

It took 20 minutes for the Raiders’ defense to take control, as Houston Baptist shot 61.9-percent in the first half. Trailing by eight early, Wright State gradually took control, assuming a 36-34 lead as Davis notched 11 of his 17 in the opening frame.

Wright State will meet South Alabama on Saturday in the subregional finale.

Detroit 77, Florida Atlantic 44
Hosting the 2k Sports Classic subregional, Detroit rolled in the first of three games, knocking off Florida Atlantic, 77-44, at Calihan Hall.

Never trailing, Detroit (3-2) won its second straight game, holding Florida Atlantic to 31.8-percent shooting while knocking down 48.1-percent of its attempts from the floor.

Leading 32-20 at the half, the Titans blitzed the Owls to start the second half, using an Evan Bruinsma layup and Ugochukwu Njoku dunk to assume a 16-point edge a little over a minute into the half. Following a FAU turnover, Carlton Brundidge’s 3-pointer from the right corner pushed the lead to 19, 39-20, and forced the Owls into a timeout.

The Detroit lead would not drop below 16 points the remainder of the game, as the Titans drilled 6-of-9 3-pointers to continually pull away in the final 17 minutes of play.

The Titans forced 23 Owl turnovers, converting the opportunities into 25 points. Jarod Williams and Jermaine Lippert were the primary thieves, coming away with three steals apiece.

Juwan Howard, Jr., and Matthew Grant led Detroit with 14 points apiece, while Anton Wilson and Patrick Onwenu each chipped in 11. Nine of the 10 Titans who appeared in the game finished with points.

Detroit will take on Toledo in its second game of the subregional on Saturday.