A guy from the Big Easy turned the Windy City into his town.

Wright State sophomore guard Reggie Arceneaux scored a career-high 29 points and carried the Raiders to a 62-61 victory over Loyola on Friday. The New Orleans native made 9-of-14 shots from the field, 6-of-10 3-pointers and 5-of-5 free throws.

The Raiders trailed nearly the entire game, but Arceneaux’s 3-pointer with 1:35 left was the last basket by either team. He nearly fell down before the shot, tweaking his Achilles tendon, he said, but he found the nerve to drain one last basket, giving the Raiders their first and only lead of the second half.

Even Arceneaux was surprised it went in.

“I was pretty deep,” he said. “It looked good. The angle was right. It went in.”

Loyola had two more chances to take the lead, but Devon Turk missed a 3-pointer with 55 seconds left, and Cole Darling blocked Jordan Hicks’ shot after the Ramblers got the offensive rebound. Then in the final seconds, Ben Averkamp missed a jump shot, and the Raiders threw the rebound up the court as time ran out.

Arceneaux surpassed his previous career high of 22 points, set against Virginia Military Institute on Dec. 20

“I felt it in warmups,” he said. “The ball just felt good to me. I just tried to keep my team in it, keep letting it go and just take the shots when I needed to.”

Wright State improved to 13-4 and 4-0 in the Horizon League. A team picked to finish last is the first team in the conference to four wins. The Raiders have first place to themselves with a half-game lead over Detroit (3-0).

This was also the Raiders’ fourth win in nine days.

“It’s really big,” Arceneaux said. “Going on the road, that’s tough. Every time on the road in this league, it’s tough. We just have to stay mentally and physically prepared every game.”

The Raiders trailed 33-23 at halftime and were down by as many as 11 in the second half. With 6:52 to go, they trailed the Ramblers (10-6, 1-3) by eight, but they went on a 10-2 run over the next three minutes.

Darling, who scored 12 points, tied the game at 59-59 with 2:22 to play. Christian Thomas scored to give Loyola a 61-59 lead with 2:11 to play. Then came Arceneaux’s winning shot.

Arceneaux was the last Raider off the court. He held both arms in the air as he entered the locker room.

“He was phenomenal,” Wright State coach Billy Donlon said. “Obviously the 29 points and the game-winning shot and all those things are unbelievable, but it was all the things people don’t see: at halftime, how he was with his team. There were times he was upset with people, and he had a right to be. There were times when he said, ‘Hey, fellas, we’re winning the game.’ It was just an unbelievable, gritty performance.”