Five straight wins

February 2, 2008
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Photos © and Courtesy of Tim G. Zechar

For the second time this season the sophomore hit the game winning shot for the Raiders. The first came back on Dec. 29 when he made a pair of free-throws to clinch a win over Belmont. It's the fifth win this season Wright State has had by two points or less.

"I was confident I was going to get the shot off in time and confident I was going to hit it," said Duggins. "It was rush that you don't get to feel too often and I think everyone felt it. It's a great feeling."

The field goal was the only one for Wright State in the final 4:15 on the game. Other than that they only made two free-throws, both coming from Scottie Wilson.

Winning close games is becoming a trend for the Raiders. Eleven games this season have been decided by five points or less. Nine of them have turned out to be Wright State victories.

"Our kids have confidence and we're going to play to the horn," said head coach Brad Brownell. "I think we feel like we're going to win the game. Now sometimes it happens and sometimes it don't and sometimes it takes a heroic event like today, but I think our kids know that it's going to come down to this in this league."

The biggest difference between this win and the loss in Milwaukee was the Panther's 3-point shooting. In Wisconsin the made 12-22 from behind the arc. On Saturday the made just 6-26 and were only sent to the line seven times the entire night.

Our defense in the second half was big," said Brownell. "We made a couple of adjustments at halftime that really helped us."

Notes:

Sophomore Todd Brown went down with 2:15 remaining in the game with a rib injury. He said he was having trouble breathing after the incident but says everything is fine now.

With the win Wright State moved into a tie with Cleveland State for second place in the league. The Vikings lost their fourth straight game, this time to Loyola 65-53.