Jan. 19, 2008

Box Score |  Quotes

CHICAGO - Vaughn Duggins hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds left to provide the winning margin as Wright State (11-6, 4-4 Horizon) escaped with a 53-52 victory over Loyola University Chicago (6-12, 2-6 Horizon) at the Gentile Center tonight. Neither team lead by more than six points in the nip-and-tuck affair and the loss was only the Ramblers' second in their last six home games.

Wright State jumped out to an 8-2 lead, the largest lead of the game, before the Ramblers recorded six unanswered points to even the score in the first of seven ties in the half. Tracy Robinson connected on a pair of foul shots with 52 seconds remaining in the period to send the teams to the locker room deadlocked at 26-26.

The Raiders built another six-point lead with 3:05 left, pushing their lead to 51-45 on Jordan Pleiman's three-point play. A resilient Loyola squad refused to go away, scoring seven straight points, the last two coming off a steal and dunk by Robinson with 58 seconds left to play. Much to the chagrin of the Rambler faithful, Loyola was whistled for a foul with 22 seconds left, setting up Duggins' game-winning free throws. The Ramblers had two cracks at winning the game in the closing seconds, but were unable to convert the shots.

Loyola matched a season high with seven treys and outrebounded Wright State, 32-29. Justin Cerasoli sparked the Ramblers with a game-high 16 points off the bench. J.R. Blount added 11 points as he scored in double digits for the 11th straight time at the Gentile Center. Robinson chipped in 10 points and Andy Polka tallied seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Duggins scored 14 points to lead Wright State.

The Ramblers are back in action Thursday, Jan. 24 when they travel to Butler.