WSU Men's BB: Men Fall at Loyola

The Wright State men's basketball team led 25-19 at the 4:18 mark of the first half, but it was all Loyola from there as the Ramblers closed the period with a 17-5 run and then extended the margin by as much as 20 midway through the second half before finishing with a 76-63 decision in Horizon League action at the Gentile Center Wednesday night.

WSU trailed 14-10 before going on a 15-5 run over the next seven minutes, six of those coming from Jordan Pleiman and five from Reinaldo Smith, to take the six-point lead. Loyola, though, scored nine of the next 12 points to tie the game at 28 and then tacked on the final seven of the period to go up 36-30 at the break.

The Ramblers then carried that momentum into the second half as after Wright State drew to within one at 36-35 on a Drew Burleson three and a Pleiman layup, Loyola followed with a 24-5 burst over the next nine minutes, 11 from Blake Schilb, to blow the game open.

Loyola outshot Wright State 50-43 percent, had a 37-26 rebounding advantage and hit 24 of 30 from the foul line to just seven of 13 for the Raiders. The Rambler reserves outscored the WSU bench 25-13.

DaShaun Wood led the Raiders with 18 points and six assists while Pleiman had 12 points and Burleson 11.

Schilb paced all scorers with a double-double effort of 24 points and 12 rebounds for Loyola (16-10, 7-8 Horizon) and added six assists while Majak Kou had 12 points and Leon Young 10 off the bench.

Wright State, now 13-13 overall and 8-7 in the Horizon League, wraps up the regular season Saturday at UIC for a 4:00 Eastern tip. That game will determine if the Raiders will be the third or fourth seed in next week's Horizon League Tournament.