NEWS

 

DAYTON, Ohio – Foster Loyer drilled three 3-pointers and scored 11 of his career-high 38 points in the second overtime as Davidson erased a 21-point deficit to rally past Wright State, 102-97, in non-conference men’s basketball action Wednesday night inside the Nutter Center.

Coming off a 30-point effort in the Wildcats’ season opener, Loyer added 11 rebounds and 9 assists in 48 minutes of action.

Sam Mennenga scored 16 points and grabbed 7 boards, while Connor Kochera and Reed Bailey had 15 points each for Davidson (2-0), which trailed by as many as 21 points on separate occasions in the opening half. Sophomore Desmond Watson came off the bench to score 9 points.

The Wildcats never trailed in the second overtime as Loyer started the period with consecutive triples and put the game away with another one from about 25-feet out with 18 seconds to play that put his team up, 101-97.

Trey Calvin paced four Raiders in double figures with 37 points on 14-of-33 shooting.

After Wright State (0-1) shot 56.8 percent in the first half, Davidson held the Raiders to just 35.2 percent the rest of the way. The Wildcats were the exact opposite, shooting 41.4 percent in the opening period before torching the nets for 60.5 percent over the final 30 minutes.

Trailing 52-36 at the break, the Wildcats slowly chipped away and got to within 11, 63-52, on a driving layup by Loyer at the 12:11 mark of the second half.

Davidson closed regulation with an 11-4 spurt capped by a pair of Loyer free throws with 18 seconds remaining to tie the score at 79-79 and force overtime.

In the first extra session, the Wildcats took their largest lead of the night, 89-82, on a Bailey two-handed jam, but the Raiders responded with seven unanswered over the last 1:29 to send the game into another overtime.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to action Sunday with a 2 p.m. tip against VMI inside John M. Belk Arena.