Raiders fall to physical Detroit team

Titans use momentum from first-half run to drop WSU to 12-16.


Next game:

Who: Wright State (12-16) at Missouri-Kansas City (10-18)

When: 5 p.m. Saturday

Radio: WBZI-FM (100.3), Info 1660 AM

FAIRBORN — Against a bigger and more physical opponent, the Wright State men’s basketball team did its share of attacking the basket in the first half.

When that stopped, and when Detroit got on a roll, the Raiders were on their way to a disappointing end to their home regular season schedule.

With four players scoring in double figures, Detroit pulled away in the second half in a 71-55 victory on Wednesday in front of 3,565 at the Nutter Center. It was the Raiders’ worst Horizon League home loss in 31 games, since a 69-51 defeat against No. 11 Butler on Feb. 7, 2009.

“We just stopped attacking the rim,” said WSU coach Billy Donlon.

The Raiders (12-16, 7-9) both guaranteed themselves a losing regular season with three games remaining and dropped into eighth place in the Horizon League. Surging Detroit (16-12, 10-6), which has won nine of its past 11 games, pulled into a tie for third place with Butler.

WSU also fell two games behind Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Youngstown State, tied for fifth at 9-7, while dropping further away from a possible No. 6 seed in the Horizon League tournament and first-round home game.

Wright State guard Julius Mays led all scorers with 16 points, and forward Armond Battle added 11. But Detroit countered with four in double figures, led by 14 points from junior Jason Calliste.

WSU used a 19-6 scoring advantage to go up 33-28 with 3:48 in the first half, but the Titans closed the half on a 12-0 run as the Raiders went scoreless for the rest of the half. WSU shot 50 percent in the first half, but Detroit made 56.5 percent.

Doug Anderson, a 6-6 Detroit junior, leaped for an emphatic finish to an alley-oop pass from guard Ray McCallum from near half court with 17:05 left that gave the Titans a 45-37 lead. They continued a steady advantage in the second half to lead by double digits for the final 14:23 and beat the Raiders for the fourth straight meeting.

“In the second half, they did what they wanted to do and kept us from doing what we wanted to do,” Mays said. “They made it their kind of game.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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