But the plan went awry, and Welage had to call an audible.
“I was supposed to do a fake handoff with Alex (Huibregtse) and then throw it into Brandon. But I turned around and nobody was on me,” he said.
“I drove it down there, and Brandon sealed that guy off. I shot it, and it went in.”
Asked how it felt to be such an unlikely hero, he said: “Obviously, I knew the time and score and the magnitude of hitting that. But immediately, I thought to get back (on defense) and not let a free outlet pass down the floor.”
He added: “You have to always stay ready. You never know when you’re going to have a chance and have a play to make. Luckily today, I ended up making it.”
Welage made a short jumper in the lane with 11 seconds to play to give the Raiders a 65-64 lead, and after Robert Morris’ Kam Woods missed a drive, Jack Doumbia made one of two free throws for a 66-64 victory before 3,579 fans Sunday afternoon.
Just before Welage’s bucket, Wright State, trailing by one, was forced to foul with 27.6 seconds. And D.J. Smith, an 82.2% free-throw shooter, missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
The Raiders (12-12, 6-7) finished the game on a 10-0 run after falling behind, 64-56 with 2:39 left.
WSU stopped a six-game winning streak by Robert Morris (16-8, 8-5).
The Raiders improved to 2-6 in games decided by four points or fewer.
“Of all the close losses we’ve had, that one might have felt the worse (if they hadn’t won),” coach Clint Sargent said. “We had nothing going, we were searching. But how about Andrew Welage and that play?
“He ends up making the biggest play in the game. Those kind of storylines and what he’ll take the rest of his life — having that moment of affirmation and accomplishment — makes me extremely happy for him and his family and this team.”
The Raiders’ primary defense has been man-to-man for years, and it’ll stay that way as long as Sargent is flying the plane.
But the first-year coach hasn’t had the same aversion to zones and presses that predecessor Scott Nagy did. And with his team having given up 88 points to Youngstown State, 95 to Milwaukee and 120 to Purdue Fort Wayne (90 in regulation) in the last three weeks, it probably was time for some radical thinking.
The Raiders went to their 1-3-1 extensively after Robert Morris started 9 of 11 from the field and sprinkled it in the rest of the way.
And their 1-2-2 press forced back-to-back turnovers at 2:26 and 2:00.
“Our 1-3-1 has been better, and I spoke to our staff about maybe trying to get to the zone earlier in the first half just to see how it impacts them, and then we’d have a better read how we could utilize it in the second half and not be going to it out of desperation,” Sargent said.
“I felt like it really threw a wrench into their rhythm. And to go back to it in a pivotal moment in the game, you feel a little more confident.”
They held the Colonials far below their average of 76.3 per game while reaching their defensive goal of allowing no more than one point per possession (they hit that on the nose).
As for the press, Sargent said: “It’s one thing to be in what you want them to be in, but it’s more about them making the plays. That’s really what happened,” he said.
The Raiders won despite having their third-lowest shooting effort of the season at 40.4%. Only the blowout loss at Kentucky (35.3%) and last week’s win over Detroit Mercy (37.1%) were worse.
Noel was the lone Raider in double-figures with 17 points.
Join the club: Transfer forward Michael Imariagbe was honored for reaching 1,000 points in his career with a bucket at Youngstown State last week. He’s got 123 points this season and had 557 at McMurray College and 330 last season at Houston Christian.
Noel has 1,320 career points and Huibregtse 1,082.
Long-range rock: Huibregtse has made a 3 in 32 consecutive games, going back to last season. The fifth-year senior is 67 of 170 (39.4%) this season and 204 of 532 (38.3%) for his career.
It’s the longest streak since Grant Benzinger went 34 straight games with a 3 over two seasons in 2017 and ‘18.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Wright State at Purdue Fort Wayne, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 101.5, 1410
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