Calvin hit a fade-away jumper near the foul line at the buzzer for a 73-72 upset .
Wright State head coach Scott Nagy drew up the last sequence after the Raiders regained possession on a turnover with eight seconds to go.
“We had a pretty good mismatch with Brandon (Noel). He was killing that kid. But I’m like, ‘Down one, we’re going with Trey. Trey’s the guy. He’s the one that has to make a play for us,’ and he did,” Nagy said on his post-game radio show.
The Raiders trailed by 10 early in the second half, cut it to one, but fell behind by five again with three minutes to go when El Ellis hit back-to-back 3-pointers.
It was still five when Ellis, who had 29 points, scored at 1:32.
But Noel had a put-back and scored on a dunk off a Tim Finke assist with 12 seconds to go to make it 72-71.
The Cardinals (0-2) were in the one-and-one, but Nagy told the team in a timeout not to foul right away.
“Our guys did a great job of not fouling there. We said, ‘If the Ellis kid gets it, don’t foul him. He’s killing us. Make someone else (score),’” Nagy said. “We trapped him, and he didn’t want to give it up. We tied that ball up, and it was our ball.”
Finke forced the tie-up, and the possession arrow was in the Raiders’ favor.
Calvin had 17 points, Noel 13, A.J. Braun and Alex Huibregtse 10 each.
The Raiders (1-1) went 31 of 65 from the field (47.7%), but only 5 of 16 on 3′s and 6 of 11 from the foul line.
The Cardinals were coming off a stunning 67-66 loss to Division-I newcomer Bellarmine in their opener. That made them 48-2 in the KFC Yum! Center since it opened in 2010.
They went 30 of 59 from the field (50.8%) and had 19 turnovers to the Raiders’ 13.
“I told our players: ‘We did not play well. I can’t believe the mistakes and the nervousness.’ But the thing I’m most proud of is, with us not playing well, our guys didn’t get overly discouraged,” Nagy said.
“It’s great to be able to win a game like this and learn. It’s much easier to be critical of the guys after a win, and we need to be critical.”
TUESDAY’S GAME
Bowling Green at Wright State, 7 p.m., ESPN+, 980
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