Wright State coach Billy Donlon called two timeouts Saturday in the first four minutes, something he said he’s never done.

Donlon had to try something, however, because nothing on the court at the Nutter Center was working. Evansville was scoring at will, and the Raiders were getting killed — this wasn’t a BracketBuster, it was a bracket explosion. Seven minutes into the game, Wright State trailed 17-3.

“Sometimes in life, you’re the hammer,” Donlon said. “Sometimes you’re the nail. Today we were the nail.”

The Raiders did make it respectable and twice got as close as five points, but they lost 70-58 to the Purple Aces in the final BracketBusters game either team will play. ESPN announced the end of the annual mid-major showcase in December after 11 years.

Wright State (18-10) had fared well in the BracketBusters over the years, entering Saturday’s game with a 5-3 mark. Evansville (16-13) proved to be one of the Raiders’ toughest opponents. The Purple Aces, playing a rare pure motion offense the Raiders had never seen, scored on their first five possessions and hit six of their first seven shots.

Wright State, on the other hand, missed its first 11 shots. Its only points in the first eight minutes came on three free throws. A layup by Jerran Young at the 11:59 mark ended the drought.

“You’re not going to win basketball games if you give up 17 points in six minutes,” Donlon said. “I can’t explain it other than we missed a lot of shots in close to make the margin a little tighter. Our kids are resilient. They’re tough. They’re going to make runs in games, but against a team like Evansville, you can’t be behind 17-3.

“And it wasn’t the motion. It was transition basketball. They just blew up the floor and blew by us in one pass in the halfcourt.”

After giving up 17 points in the first six minutes, the Raiders allowed only four in the next six, and their offense woke up, cutting the deficit to 21-16 at the 8:57 mark.

Young, who started his second straight game, had seven of his 11 points in the stretch. J.T. Yoho came off the bench to score seven points in a two-minute span. He finished with a career-high 20 points.

It wasn’t close for long. Evansville pushed the lead back to 14 and led by 11 at halftime. In the second half, the Raiders trimmed Evansville’s lead to 41-36 on a 3-pointer by Young with 17:04 left, but Evansville scored the next six points and it was never close after that.

Even though this game doesn’t affect Wright State’s standing in the Horizon League, guard Kendall Griffin said the team approached it as if it did.

“It was an important game,” Griffin said. “It was another chance to get a win.”