WSU rallies for win at UIC

It took 30 minutes, but Grant Benzinger’s offense and the Wright State defense finally showed up at Illinois-Chicago.

Benzinger scored all 10 of his points in the final 9:34, and a Raiders team that struggled to get stops all afternoon finally strung a few together to help WSU overcome a 12-point deficit for an 88-86 victory at the UIC Pavilion.

The win moved the Raiders to 15-8 overall and 6-4 in the Horizon League.

Mark Alstork led WSU with 24 points, including a reverse layup with 5:19 left that completed the comeback and a 3-pointer with 3:37remaining that put the Raiders up 82-77, which at the time was their biggest.

Parker Ernsthausen gave WSU the lead for good on a stickback after a Justin Mitchell miss with 4:46 left.

Mitchell scored 14 points and Ernsthausen added 11 as the Raiders shot 53.6 percent (30 of 56) and improved to 7-1 in games played less than 48 hours after the previous one. WSU lost to Valparaiso 70-55 Friday night.

Mike La Tulip also scored in double figures with 10, all of which came in the first half.

UIC shot 50 percent, most of which came on drives to the basket. The aggressive approach also got the Flames to the line 34 times, and they converted 28 of the chances.

Wright State returns to action Saturday at home against Northern Kentucky.

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