Men’s basketball rallies for 62-61 win at Loyola

(Photo courtesy of Keith Cole) Sophomore guard Reggie Arcenaux scored a career high 29 points for the Raiders lifting his team to a perfect 4-0 record in Horizon League play.

((Contributed by Wright State Athletics))

Behind a career-high 29 points from Reggie Arceneaux, including the game-winning three-pointer with 1:35 remaining, the Wright State men’s basketball team rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to post a 62-61 win at Loyola Friday night.

The Raiders jumped out to a 10-4 early lead thanks in part to a pair of Arceneaux three-pointers and was still ahead 14-11 following an AJ Pacher jumper with 10:56 remaining in the first half, but Loyola closed the period with a 22-9 run to go up 33-23 at the break.

The Ramblers shot 46 percent from the field in the first half, including four of seven from three-point range, and were seven of eight at the foul line while Wright State shot 32 percent overall, two of 15 from behind the arc, and was just three of four at the stripe.

An Arceneaux three from the left corner cut the deficit to one at 40-39 at the 12;12 mark of the second half, but the Ramblers pushed the margin back up to 55-47 on two Christian Thomas free throw with 6:52 to play.

Wright State, however, started its comeback from there, closing to within two at 57-55 on an Arceneaux three-point play at the 4:52 mark before finally tying it at 59 on a Cole Darling short jumper with 2:22 remaining.

Thomas hit a foul line jumper at the 2:11 mark to give Loyola the lead back, but that turned out to be the final points of the night for the Ramblers as Arceneaux connected on a deep three from the left wing with 1:35 to play to cap off a 15-6 run and make it 62-61.

Loyola had chances late, but Darling came up with a defensive rebound at the 47.6-second mark and after Ben Averkamp’s jumper in the lane went off the rim, Matt Vest knocked the rebound toward the other end of the court as time expired.

The win allowed Wright State to match the 4-0 league start in 2005-06 campaign for the best ever by a Raider team.

The Raiders scorched the nets for 61 percent in the final 20 minutes, including six of eight from three, and made all five free throw attempts while the Ramblers hit for 41 percent, but were just two of nine from three.

Arceneaux made nine of 14 shots, six of 10 threes, in scoring a career-high 29 points, eclipsing his previous best of 22 against VMI on December 8.  19 of those points came in the second half.

Darling posted a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, with all 12 points and six boards coming after halftime.  Kendall Griffin dished out six assists.

Averkamp paced Loyola (10-6, 1-3 Horizon) with 15 while Devon Turk had 14 off the bench and Thomas had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Wright State (13-4, 4-0 Horizon) continues the four-game road swing on Saturday, January 19, with an 8:00 Eastern contest at Valparaiso.