INDIANAPOLIS — The Wright State University Men’s Basketball is heading to the NCAA tournament.
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The Raiders beat Detroit Mercy Titans 66-63 in the Horizon League Conference Tournament Championship Tuesday night.
Off the bench, Junior Logan Woods from Fairfield, Ohio, hit back-to-back three-pointers late in the game.
Kellen Pickett’s two blocks late also helped seal the win.
This is the Raiders’ first time going to the NCAA tournament in four years.
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WSU trailed by as many as 12 points, 49-37, with 9:52 to play. They went on a 17-5 run to tie the game at 54-54. Freshman T.J. Burch accounted for 10 of those points.
The game was tied at 56-56 with 2:53 remaining when Pickett blocked Legend Geeter’s shot and grabbed the miss. Woods buried his first trey with 2:11 remaining to put the Raiders ahead for good, 59-56.
Woods knocked down his second shot from beyond the arc to extend it to 62-56 with 1:21 left.
Pickett made two free throws to put WSU up, 65-60, with 20 seconds left. T.J. Nadaeu’s three for Detroit-Mercy cut it to 65-63. Michael Cooper was fouled with nine seconds left, but missed two foul shots.
Detroit-Mercy grabbed the miss and got it to Orlando Lovejoy. Pickett blocked his shot, and Michael Imariagbe grabbed it with less than a second left. He made a free throw to end it.
The team’s official X account, formerly known as Twitter, shared a video of the final moments of the game:
Burch led the Raiders with 19 points as he was named tournament MVP. Cooper was also selected to the All-Tournament team.
Pickett finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks. Imariagbe added 12.
Wright State clinches the Horizon League’s automatic bid into the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. This will be their first tournament appearance since 2022.
They will learn their destination on Sunday when the Field of 68 is announced.
It will be broadcast nationally on CBS at 6 p.m. You can watch it here on Channel 7.
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