Men hold on for 51-49 win at Miami

Wright State Raiders forward Tavares Sledge (44) lays it up during the NCAA Basketball game between the Miami (Oh) Redhawks and the Wright State Raiders at Millett Hall in Oxford, Ohio.

The Wright State men’s basketball team nearly saw a five-point lead slip away in the final minute, but held on for a 51-49 win over the Miami RedHawks Saturday at Millett Hall.

Miami jumped out to a 9-1 lead on threes by Julian Mavunga, Will Sullivan and Josh Sewell three minutes into the contest and the margin was seven until an 8-0 WSU run, capped off by a Reggie Arceneaux three, put the Raiders up for the first time at 16-15 at the 4:27 mark.

The one-point lead then seesawed between the two teams the rest of the half before the RedHawks went into the break up 22-21 on a Mavunga dunk in the final minute.

Back-to-back Cole Darling three put Wright State up 29-25 with 16:29 remaining and the lead grew to 34-27 on an Arceneaux three-point play at the 14:44 mark.

Miami tied it at 37 on a Mavunga free throw with 8:13 left, but Armond Battle gave the Raiders the lead for good with a three and the WSU lead was 50-45 on two Julius Mays foul shots with 56 seconds remaining.

Jon Harris, however, cut the margin to two with a three-pointer and the RedHawks looked to be in position to tie the game as Mavunga went to the foul line with 2.1 seconds left.

Mavunga made the first, but missed the second and after Battle gathered in the rebound, he hit the first of two free throws at the 0.5-second mark.  Battle intentionally missed the second and Miami missed a desperation shot as time expired.

WSU shot 34 percent for the game compared to 30 percent for the RedHawks.

Darling was the only Raider in double figures as he scored 13 off the bench.  Arceneaux and Mays each had eight.

Mavunga led Miami (2-5) with a double-double of 19 points and 16 rebounds while Harris had 10 off the bench.

Wright State (4-6) faces another local rival on Wednesday, December 14, as the Raiders host Cincinnati in a 7:00 contest that will be televised on ESPN2.