Tied at 71-all with 2:24 to go, Bradley scored five straight points and then held on for a 77-74 victory Friday night.
Brandon Noel had 26 points, going 10 of 16 from the field and 3 of 3 on foul shots for the Raiders (4-3).
Jack Doumbia, making his first start of the year, had 16 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists. And Alex Huibregtse had 13 points.
Picked to finish fifth in the Horizon League, Wright State made 27 of 52 shots (51.9%) and went 9 of 19 from 3 (47.4%).
Bradley went 29 of 55 from the field (52.7%), including 15 of 26 in the second half.
The Raiders will play in the third-place game against South Florida (3-3) at 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2. The Bulls were picked to finish third in the American Conference.
The championship game will pit Bradley (5-1) against Middle Tennessee (5-1) at 5:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN.
“Our guys, like I told them after the game, I absolutely love our ‘compete.’ We have a championship-level compete,” said Sargent, who bemoaned some defensive breakdowns.
“To give up 57% (shooting) in the second half, that’s where, typically, we’ve been better,” he said.
After Noel scored on a put-back to tie it, 71-71, the Raiders got the ball back on a Doumbia steal but coughed it up when Noel committed a turnover.
After a timeout at 1:44, Bradley’s Zek Montgomery knocked down a 3. Noel then missed a shot and fouled Christian Davis, who made a pair of free throws for a 76-71 lead with 1:07 to go.
Noel connected on two foul shots to cut it to 76-73 with 47 seconds left.
The Braves missed a 3 but grabbed an offensive rebound. Logan Woods fouled with 17 seconds left, and Duke Deen made one of two foul shots.
Huibregtse made one of two free throws for the Raiders with 2.7 seconds left. But the Braves, leading by three, just needed to get the ball inbounds after that, and they did with a pass to a steaking player near midcourt, running out the clock.
“We get another opportunity to learn from (a loss), and we’ll learn from the pain of it. As much as I’m already tired of saying that early in the non-conference, I know it’ll be true,” Sargent said.
“I know with our group and our staff, this will be a good thing for us. But I’m very proud of how we stayed in the fight and handled punch after punch.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Wright State vs. South Florida, 1 p.m., ESPN2, 101.5, 1410
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