WDTN: Raiders down Norse, advance to Tuesday's

Описание: WDTN 3/9/2026

INDIANAPOLIS - Freshman Michael Cooper scored 23 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to lead the top-seeded Wright State men's basketball team to a pull-away 103-90 victory over No. 7 Northern Kentucky on Monday night in the Barbasol Horizon League Championship semifinals.

The Raiders advance to play No. 3 Detroit Mercy for the Horizon League Tournament crown on Tuesday night at 7p.m. and the League's auto-bid into the NCAA tournament. Tuesday's final will air on ESPN and the Wright State Radio Network.


Cooper led five Raiders in double figures as Wright State shot 56 percent on the night and dropped their most points in a Division-I game this season.

Wright State withstood an early barrage from the hot shooting Norse as the visitors on the scoreboard put together an early run to grab a 16-10 out of the first media timeout. The Raiders weathered that storm, drawing even behind Solomon Callaghan and TJ Burch. It was Burch's driving lay-up in the final seconds of the half that gave the Raiders a 46-44 lead at the break. Burch scored 14 of his 22 in the first 20 while Callaghan dropped eight of his 13.

The Norse continued their trend of fast starts, riding the hot shooting of Donovan O'Day. O'Day scored eight of his 15 in a two-minute stretch as NKU matched its largest lead of the game at six, 55-49. That is when Cooper started to take over. The All-Freshman team guard scored or assisted on 11 of 13 points, sparking a 13-3 run that gave the Raiders a lead they wouldn't give up and forced a Norse timeout.

The timeout wouldn't slow down the Raiders who went on an 11-0 run, highlighted by a pair of Burch steals, the latter ending in a highlight-reel alley-oop to Andrea Holden. The Norse would get no closer than eight the rest of the way. The Raiders' balanced attack rolled to 57 points in the second half on 58 percent shooting and iced the game down the stretch, going 19-for-21 from the charity stripe in the second stanza.

Horizon League Freshman of the Year Kellen Pickett added 14 points and Dominic Pangonis rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12. Michael Imariagbe led the Raiders with 10 boards and narrowly missed out on a double-double with eight points.