WSU Raiders Push #14 Washington

Down by as much as 18 in the second half, the Wright State men's basketball team closed to within just five of #14 Washington before falling 74-69 to the Huskies in the first round of the Athletes in Action Classic at Bank of America Arena in Seattle Friday night.

Todd Brown stepped up for the Raiders, posting team highs with 21 points and seven rebounds as WSU outshot UW 49% to 42%.

Junior N'Gai Evans tied his career high with 17 points, 15 coming in the crucial second half. Cooper Land added 12 points off the bench.

"I thought that all in all we played an OK game," said WSU head coach Brad Brownell. "I am pleased with the way we were able to bounce back in the second half and play as hard as we did. We had to play a little more zone than we like to, but I thought that it was effective in the second half. I am a little disappointed with our effort, especially rebounding the basketball in the first half. I felt that we made it relatively interesting, but we just came up a little short."

Other than two ties early in the contest, Washington led throughout the entire game as the Raiders were close at various times and drew within five on a layup by Evans as time expired. WSU trailed by 18 points with 16:49 remaining and chipped away, outscoring the Huskies 38-25 to end the game.

Each team grabbed 29 rebounds while WSU had 18 turnovers to UW's 12. The Raiders connected on 25 field goals but were 15 of 21 from the line as the Huskies (1-0) had 22 field and were 27-35 from the line.

Wright State (0-1) takes on Portland State Saturday at 7:30 Eastern in the second round of the AIA Tournament.