DETROIT, Mich. - Wright State went 11-of-12 from the free throw line over the final 1:26 of the contest to hold off the Milwaukee men's basketball team and claim a 59-53 victory in the semifinals of Motor City Madness Monday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The Panthers (16-17) and Raiders (24-9) traded punches in a defensive battle all evening, but a cold stretch from the floor that spanned both halves doomed Milwaukee's hopes of a return trip to the Horizon League championship game.
"First of all, I'd like to thank our fans that came out and supported us during this tournament and throughout the entire season," head coach
Pat Baldwin said. "Credit to our guys. They worked extremely hard from the time I got to campus to this point here. And credit to Wright State; congratulations to them. Obviously we went through the conference schedule beating them twice and we knew it was going to be a tough battle coming in here."
Jeremiah Bell paced the Panthers with 22 points, adding five rebounds.
Brock Stull was also in double-figures, ending the night with 13 points and four boards.
Bryce Nze grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.
Loudon Love led WSU with a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds.
"Our guys really wanted it," Baldwin said. "I know Wright State's guy really wanted it, too. I felt like we put a lot of pressure on each and every shot and each and every defensive stop and possession. That just shows you the heart, the tenacity, and the want that our guys have in wanting to win so badly. I give them credit for that because they definitely deserve it."
The decisive point of the game came in the first portion of the second half. After a slow end to the first 20 minutes, the Panthers could not get things going coming out of the locker room. The team ended up going almost eight minutes without a bucket, seeing Wright State score 17 of 21 points during the stretch that turned a 23-18 Milwaukee lead into a 35-27 deficit with just over 12 minutes to play.
The Panthers trailed the rest of the way. Bell did help the team battle back to within three at 48-45 with 90 seconds left, only to see WSU ice it with the 11-of-12 showing from the line the rest of the way, ending Milwaukee's postseason hopes in the semifinals.
"Nobody expected us to be here, but there are a lot of things to take out of - not only this game, but the entire season," Baldwin said. "I want our guys to be proud of who they are, their character, what they represent and that is being the best men they can possibly be for their families, and also for the community of Milwaukee and also the campus there."
It was not a pretty first half shooting either way, with Milwaukee at 30 percent and Wright State just a few points higher. In fact, the game was scoreless to the 16:29 mark, with the teams combining to miss their first 10 shots from the field.
The Panthers went 8-2 after Wright State made the first hoop, and grew the lead to as many as six at 17-11 on a Bell three from the corner with the shot clock getting low.
The Raiders had a run of their own, going 7-0 to jump ahead, 25-23, with Stull knotting it at 25-all just after before WSU grabbed a two-point lead at intermission.
UWM ended the night at 31.7 percent (20-of-63) from the floor, bad timing for its lowest mark from the field against a DI opponent this season. Wright State was not much better, finishing at 33.3 percent (18-of-54).
The team loses just two seniors, as
Brett Prahl and
Alex Prahl are set to graduate. Brett leaves as the new career-leader in field-goal percentage, finishing his four years at .638 (261-409) from the field, easily surpassing the former mark of .578 (416-720) set by Adrian Tigert (2001-06).
Nze also sets a pair of new rebounding marks, breaking Matt Tiby's single-season rebound total of 272 set in 2015-16 and his per-game average of 8.2 rpg set the same year. Nze finished at 8.5 per game and with 280 total boards.
Baldwin concludes 16-17 overall in his first season, a five-game improvement over the 2016-17 campaign, as well as four spots higher in the final regular-season standings.
