It finally happened for the Wright State men’s basketball team this weekend. The Raiders achieved a first in program history: sweep Green Bay and Milwaukee on the road in the same season.
Following a double overtime performance in Green Bay which saw junior Miles Dixon send the game to double overtime on a last second three-pointer and freshman JT Yoho hit the go-ahead three with seconds left, WSU turned around and trounced the Milwaukee Panthers 64-49 two days later.
“It was a big game for us,” Dixon said of the UWM win. “We’re on a three game winning streak, and it had a big impact for the university and also us for conference play.”
WSU never trailed the Panthers, who fell to 5-20 overall and 1-10 in Horizon League play, and led by as many as 17 before the final buzzer.
Juniors Cole Darling and Jerran Young each had 18 points for the green and gold, while sophomore Tavares Sledge helped the cause with nine rebounds. It was WSU’s first road win at Milwaukee since 1998.
Dixon said “It was great to be part of history,” following the weekend sweep.
After the trip, WSU improved to 17-8 overall and 8-4 in conference play.
Both Dixon and sophomore Reggie Arceneaux credited the team’s depth for the team’s recent road success.
“It’s kind of hard to scout us,” Dixon said. “It’s any guy any different night. We have a lot of weapons to use on the court, both starting and coming off the bench.”
That depth was evident this past weekend as the WSU bench outscored their opponent’s non-starters 81-31 in Wisconsin, and nine players saw double-digit minutes against Milwaukee.
“If I have a bad game, Miles can have a bad game also, but we’ll have two or three other players that will be getting it going for us,” Arceneaux said about WSU’s deep rotation.
On the defensive end in Milwaukee, the Raiders held the Panthers to 18 made shots and limited UWM to five for 16 shooting from beyond the arc. WSU also cleaned up on the defensive end, allowing only two second chance points the entire evening.
Milwaukee head coach Rob Jeter had high praise for the WSU defense after his team’s loss Saturday night.
“That right there was a lesson on how to guard and how to play tough and how to do it on every possession—not just some of the possessions,” Jeter told the Journal Sentinel. “They are in my opinion the toughest man-to-man team because they don’t take a possession off.”
