Tuesday night at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., the Raiders shook off the disappointment and led from the start in taking a 73-59 win in the first round of the CollegeInsiders.com tournament.
“That is the thing I am most proud of,” Wright State coach Billy Donlon said after his squad improved to 21-14. “They had the effort, the intelligence and passion to win and that goes to their work ethic. With this being NCAA week and playing a quality opponent, they played with great passion and I am proud of that.”
The Raiders used a stingy defense and balanced scoring to snap the Pirates’ four-game home winning streak.
East Carolina (17-17) entered ranked 58th in the country in 3-point shooting at 37.3 percent but hit 17 percent (4-for-23) against the Raiders. Leading scorer Akeem Richmond (18.4 ppg.) was held to six points, Caleb White (12.7) was held to four and Paris R. Campbell (12.1) finished with seven.
“Matt Vest and Miles Dixon did an unbelievable job on Richmond,” Donlon said.
Wright State was on fire most of the night, making 61.4 percent (21 of 44) of their field-goal attempts and 60 percent from three (9 of 15) with A.J. Pacher leading the way with 20 points. Vest added 12, Reggie Arcenaux (11) and Cole Darling (10) also finished in double digits.
“I thought we did a great job off the bench,” Donlon said. “We had nine guys play 15 minutes or more and that goes to our depth. We have a lot of seniors, but I think tonight is a good example of why we are excited about our future as well.”
Pacher drained a 3-pointer five minutes in for a 7-0 lead and the Raiders led by as many as 12 in the first half (31-19) in taking a 31-24 lead at the break.
East Carolina trimmed the lead to 33-30 early in the second half, but the Raiders pulled away again, breaking the Pirate press with long passes, including one that led to a Pacher dunk with 14 minutes left to push the lead to 50-37.
“We had talked about how important it was to attack the press by throwing over it,” Donlon said. “If we could make a run to the rim, go make the play. If not, pull it back out, and I think the guys made really good decisions.”
ECU cut the lead to 61-57 with 4:55 left as part of a 9-0 run, but Pacher answered with a trey and the Raiders pulled away again.
Wright State will play in the second round of the tournament sometime this weekend. Opponent and site will be announced after the first round.
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