Raiders end Milwaukee drought

The Milwaukee drought for the Wright State men’s basketball team came to an end Saturday night as the Raiders shot 48 percent overall and hit 16 of 19 foul shots in defeating the Panthers 64-49 at the Klotsche Center.

WSU never trailed in the contest as Matt Vest opened the scoring with a three and the lead grew to 13-4 on a Jerran Young triple with 13:40 remaining in the first half.  Milwaukee followed with nine straight points to tie the game, only to see Wright State answer with a Reggie Arceneaux three and a Cole Darling layup.

A Darling tip-in later stretched the margin to 30-20 and two JT Yoho free throws at the 1:16 mark gave the Raiders a 32-21 halftime advantage.

Wright State hit 10 of 20 shots in the first half, including a blistering six of eight from three-point range, and was a perfect six for six at the foul line while Milwaukee shot 39 percent overall, was two for eight from behind the arc and hit just one of four free throws.

The Panthers cut the deficit to nine twice in the early going of the second half, but would get no closer as WSU maintained a double-digit lead for most of the period, going up as much as 17 at 62-45 on two Tavares Sledge foul shots with 3:51 to play.

The win was the first for the Raiders in Milwaukee since defeating the Panthers 75-65 on February 21, 1998, snapping a 14-game losing streak.  WSU had also dropped two Horizon League Tournament games in Milwaukee during that time, falling to Detroit in the 2005 tournament and to Cleveland State in 2011.

The victory also gave Wright State a sweep of Green Bay and Milwaukee on the road for the first time ever.  The three schools have been in the same conference together since the 1993-94 season.

WSU shot 48 percent overall, hit six of 12 three-pointers and made 16 of 19 free throws while Milwaukee shot 40 percent for the game, connected on five of 16 threes and was eight of 13 at the stripe.

The Raider bench, which outscored the Panther reserves 32-16, led the way as Young had 18 and Arceneaux seven.  Darling also had 18 points while Sledge gathered in nine rebounds.

Paris Gulley paced Milwaukee (5-20, 1-10 Horizon) with 10 points.

Wright State (17-8, 8-4 Horizon) hosts League-leading Valparaiso on Tuesday, February 12, at 7:00.