Men win fourth in a row, beat UIC in overtime

((Contributed by Wright State Athletics))

Photo Courtesy of Keith Cole. Senior forward Johann Mpondo scored a career-high 16 points, bettering the 15 he had last February 3 against Loyola. Twelve of Mpondo's 16 came after halftime, six in overtime

Wright State stretched its winning streak to four Saturday with its second overtime decision during that stretch, defeating UIC 74-70 on the road in Horizon League action.

WSU came out strong, leading 15-7 following a Julius Mays three with 13:05 remaining in the first half, only to see the Flames eventually go ahead 20-19 on a Darrin Williams layup at the 3:04 mark.  Threes by Gary Talton and Hayden Humes stretched the UIC lead to six before a John Balwigaire triple in the final seconds made it 27-24 at the break.

Both teams shot 37 percent in the first half, but the Flames were also a perfect six-for-six at the foul line during the period while Wright State did not attempt a free throw.

Neither team had more than a five-point advantage throughout the second half as the game was tied nine times, the final time being at 58 as Talton hit two foul shots with 19 seconds left to force overtime.

Talton opened the extra period with a jumper, but that would be UIC’s only lead in overtime as WSU went up for good on a Balwigaire layup and a Mays jumper.  The Raiders were up six on three different occasions, but the Flames still had a chance to win it late as Talton converted a layup with six seconds left to make it 71-70.

Cole Darling, however, found Balwigaire for a fast-break layup on Wright State’s next possession and, after being fouled on the play, Balwigaire completed the three-point play to clinch the victory.

Again the shooting percentages were nearly identical as the Raiders shot 40 percent to UIC’s 39 percent.  WSU, though, had seven more shots thanks to a 37-34 rebounding edge and forced the Flames into 17 turnovers while committing 11, resulting in a 22-13 differential in points off of turnovers.

Mays led the Raiders with 21 points while Mpondo added a career-high 16, bettering the 15 he had last February 3 against Loyola.  12 of Mpondo’s 16 came after halftime, six in overtime, while Balwigaire had six of his nine points in the extra period.

Darrin Williams paced all scorers with 22 points for UIC (5-9, 1-3 Horizon) while Talton had 21, 16 of those coming halftime, and Brown added 12.

Wright State (8-8, 3-1 Horizon), which moved into a tie for first in the Horizon League standings, kicks off the 2012 portion of its schedule on Friday, January 6, with a 7:00 matchup against Butler at WSU’s Nutter Center.  The game will be televised live on ESPNU.