Archdeacon: ‘Game changer’ Doumbia lifts Wright State

He scored 18 of the Raiders’ final 30 points; seven of the team’s final 12, and put an exclamation point on his performance with a final rebound and a full-length drive down the court that he capped off with a dunk just before time expired.

Doumbia finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

The Raiders were led by Brandon Noel — Doumbia, rightfully, called him “the pillar’ of the team — with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Afterward, WSU coach Clint Sargent called Doumbia “an elite difference maker” and “a game changer.”

Sargent summed up what the 23-year-old senior transfer now means to this team:

“In those last 10 minutes — winning time — I think everybody knows we can trust Jack.”

»RELATED: Transfer Doumbia eager to chase championship at WSU

The Raiders fans have learned that over the past three weeks. In five of the past six games — the outlier was the Air Force game when he was in foul trouble and did not score — Doumbia has averaged 17 points per game.

Wednesday night he put on a fearless performance in the final minutes and the fans appreciated it. As he approached them the postgame pass-by, people reached out to hug him, to talk to him, to pat him on the back.

Doumbia is something new for them.

As Sargent noted afterward — citing his athleticism and his “I’m gonna take the ball and score” mindset: “He’s different from what we’ve had here.”

And Wright State — from the coaches, teammates and fans to the expanded opportunity he’s now getting here — is different than Doumbia is accustomed to, as well.

WSU is his fourth college stop in the last five years. After community college stints in Kansas and Florida, he played the past two seasons at Norfolk State before joining WSU.

“The people here have been really nice,” Doumbia said. “They’ve shown me a lot of love and I’m happy to receive it.

“One of the boosters gave me a book and I just read. It’s called ‘Sooley’ and it’s kind of the same story as mine.

“(Sooley) came from Africa, went to college, and eventually his work ethic got him to play his best basketball and the rest is history.”

Credit: Chris Snyder

Credit: Chris Snyder

The novel by John Grisham was a New York Times bestseller. It tells the story of the fictional Samuel “Sooley” Sooleyman, who comes to the U.S. with a team from South Sudan.

When civil war breaks out back home, rebels raid his village. After his father is killed, his sister turns up missing and his mother and two younger brothers end up in a refugee camp, Sooley is offered a scholarship by a sympathetic coach at North Carolina Central.

“His story ends up with some real tragedy,” Doumbia said quietly, then finally smiled.” I hope that will not be my case.”

His parents are back in the Ivory Coast and doing fine he said. Although there’s a four-hour time difference — the WSU game ended around 1 a.m. there — he said they likely followed his performance thanks to things like ESPN+.

His emergence this season has to be something joyful — and new — for them, as well.

It was thanks to his mom, who took him to see the national team play, that he fell in love with basketball, he said.

Les Elephants — The Elephants, as the team is known — had won the FIBA Africa Championship twice and made the title game six times. One of its stars was Stephane Konote, a 6-3 shooting guard, and Doumbia came to idolize him.

“They called him the African Kobe and after seeing him and the team, I was so excited,” Doumbia told me earlier this season. “I wanted to be a star, too, and I dreamed of going to the NBA.”

Doumbia got his first basketball at age 14 and played barefoot on outdoor courts. When he got a pair of basketball shoes, he didn’t wear them for fear that he’d wear them out.

Born in Maryland, he had moved with his family to the Ivory Coast, their homeland, when he was eight.

He returned to America on his own, at age 16, to pursue his basketball dream and after playing at two high schools, he landed at Cloud County Community College and then a junior college in Tallahassee, Fla.

In two seasons at Norfolk State, he played in 40 games, started just two and averaged 13.6 minutes and 4.8 points a contest.

He wanted a chance to play more, entered the portal with his undergrad degree in hand, and chose WSU over Saint Peter’s.

In the first six games this season. He played limited minutes and averaged 6.8 ppg.

Sargent said the transition took time and understanding on both sides and as Doumbia learned to trust the WSU coaches and understand their approach, they in turn got to appreciate his skills and energy and, as Sargent more than once Wednesday night,”his big heart.”

Sargent realized Doumbia needs to be on the floor when the game is on the line in the final minutes. He was not against Oakland eight days ago — a decision Sargent called a mistake — and the Raiders lost by two points.

“One of the things we’ve lacked most in years past is some energy when we get down,” Noel said. “One of the things (Jack) brings is his ability to give us energy, even when things aren’t going well. And that’s something we feed off. We need that moving forward.”

Wednesday night, after leading by as many as 15 points, WSU saw its lead evaporate and Marshall actually surged to a two-point advantage, 78-76, on a Jakob Gibbs’ layup with 2:34 left.

Doumbia then started driving to the hoop every time he got the ball. Twice he was fouled and made three of four free throws. The other time he made a lay-up.

With five points in 62 seconds, he put WSU back into the lead for good.

“Even when things weren’t the greatest at the start of the season, I knew I came here for a reason,” he said. “I believed me ending up here was a divine move. That God put me here for a purpose. I don’t know quite what it is yet, but I feel it’s starting to happen.”

Jack Doumbia’s book is still being written.

With chapters like he had Wednesday night, it could be a best seller, too.