Seniors JT Yoho and Michael Karena were zoned-in on Sunday, Mar. 6 as Wright State men’s basketball team defeated the Detroit Titans 82-72 to advance to the semi-finals round of the Horizon League Tournament.
Karena scored 19 points on 7-8 shooting, while Yoho scored a team-high 20 points for an average of 17.5 for the tournament.
“It was a redemption game because we got beat there,” Yoho said.
Guard Carlton Brunididge made back-to-back field goals for Detroit, then picked up a technical foul on the way back on defense as WSU jumped ahead 6-4 after the opening 2:30.
After a jump shot by Yoho gave the Raiders a 16-point lead with 10:05 to go, the Titans cut the deficit to five as the Raiders were scoreless for the next 5:35 during an 11-0 run.
Senior guard Biggie Minnis found sophomore guard Mark Alstork for a lay-up with 3:06 remaining to regain a 10-point advantage, but a 7-5 run by Detroit made a halftime score of 37-29. Alstork finished with 17 points.
After scoring nine first half points, Karena scored the Raiders first five points of the second half to maintain the WSU lead.
Michael Karena attempts a lay-up against Detroit.
Forward Jaleel Hogan made a jump shot with 16:09 remaining to cut the deficit to 11, but a 3:16 scoring drought by the Titans saw WSU take a 54-37 lead.
The Raiders were scoreless for 5:10 while the Titans battled the score down to nine with 10 minutes to go, but WSU responded with an 8-0 run to take a 62-45 lead with 7:47 left.
Paris Bass scored a game-high 24 points in 26 minutes of action and recorded 13 points in the remainder of the game for Detroit as they cut the deficit to nine with 35 seconds remaining.
Next up for Wright State (21-12; 14-5 Horizon) will be the Oakland Golden Grizzlies (21-10; 13-5 Horizon) who defeated the Raiders twice in the Regular season to win the tie-breaker for second place in the conference standings. Tip-off will be at 9:30 p.m.
