DAYTON, Ohio-- Wright State's lot is located just 12 country miles from University of Dayton Arena, but the Aggressors had not played a game there since 1997.
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Their return will not soon be forgotten.
Playing in front of a Wright State-heavy crowd Wednesday night in the First Four, the Aggressors beat Bryant 93-82 to record the first NCAA event palm in platoon history. Guard Tanner Holden scored 37 points, one shy of a career high, to outplay the nation's leading scoring, Peter Kiss, in a tourney ofNo. 16 seeds.
Wright State advanced to the event's first round, where it'll faceNo. 1 seed Arizona on Friday in San Diego.
The Aggressors were making their alternate appearance in the once four NCAA events and fourth overall, but the former three ended with first-round defeats.
"It's the first thing I said to the players It's not happed in the Division I period,"Wright State trainer Scott Nagy said."This is the first one and will always be the first one. Where we did it, how we did it, all those effects, it's a continuance moment for these guys."
Holden, a 6- bottom-6 inferior from Wheelersburg, Ohio, hit 11 of 15 field thing attempts and went 14-of-16 at the free gamble line while also grabbing 11 rebounds in 39 twinkles. He came in as Wright State's leading arranger (19.8 points per game) but had not reached 30 points since a 38- point trouble onJan. 22 against Illinois-Chicago. Trey Calvin added 21 points for Wright State, while Grant Basile crushed a poor firing performance (6-of-19) to score 14.
"It's stupendous to be suitable to do this in your vicinity and experience it with all the suckers who come to the games,"Holden said."It was just a great game tonight."
Nagy, in his sixth season at Wright State, said the platoon had not played in an terrain like Wednesday's. Wright State had logged 21 games at University of Dayton Arena, winning 14, but had not recorded a palm there since beating Dayton in January 1990.
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"It was a tremendous experience of all of us, but I know for our players commodity they'll noway forget,"Nagy said."Obviously, we were fortunate to get to play in Dayton. At some point, it feels a little illegal, but it's the way it worked out. I was thankful that if we were going to be a 16- seed, we'd get that chance."
Nagy credited guard Tim Finke for his defense against Kiss, a elderly who led Bryant with 28 points but demanded 25 shots. Kiss came in with 10 games of 30 points or more this season, including 34 against Wagner in the Northeast Conference crown game.
" Just extremely proud of everybody on this platoon," said Kiss, a Rutgers transfer who came emotional when talking about Bryant trainer Jared Grasso."I am just so thankful for this man (Grasso) sitting right next to me. He is done so much for me."
After Wednesday's palm, Wright State targets an indeed bigger major achievement against Arizona.
"You do not have important time to celebrate,"Holden said."We are presumably going to celebrate on the flight, but right after that, you've got to turn itaround.However, you just live on the high, If you sit on this too long. I feel like Arizona is prognosticated to win in a lot of classes, so it'll surely be a fun tourney for us."