ESTERO, FL – The Wright State men’s basketball team saw five players finish in double figures scoring, but the Raiders fell to Hofstra 85-76 on Tuesday night in the second of three games at the Gulf Coast Showcase.
 
Wright State (1-4) now readies to face Illinois State (3-2) in the third-place game at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. Illinois State opened play in Florida with a nine-point  win over Long Beach State on Monday before falling 74-72 to High Point on Tuesday.

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Wright State jumped out to an early advantage against Hofstra (3-2), scoring the night’s first six points and 13 of the first 14 overall before Hofstra pulled back into the contest. The Raiders tallied the final 10 points of the first half to lead 48-38 at the break, while Hofstra came out of the locker room and scored six of the first eight points in the second half to set up the back-and-forth final 20 minutes from there.
 
A Trey Calvin three-pointer gave the Raiders a six-point lead at 56-50 with just over 15 minutes to play, but Hofstra answered with a 10-2 run to take a 62-58 advantage. Six straight Tanner Holden points in a minute stretch pushed Wright State to a four-point lead with five minutes remaining, but Hofstra notched the next seven points to take a 76-71 lead and hold off the Raiders over the final minute and a half.
 
Brandon Noel scored nine of his team-high 17 points in the first half while adding six rebounds. Holden tallied 15 points thanks in part to a 7-of-7 mark from the free throw stripe, and AJ Braun notched nine of his 12 points in the opening 20 minutes. Calvin finished with 11 points, including a trio of three-pointers, while Alex Huibregtse added 10 points.
 
Wright State shot 62 percent in the first half before cooling off and finishing at a 46 percent clip (26-of-56), while Hofstra opened with a 39 percent first half and ended the night at 49 percent (29-of-59).
 
All but three of Hofstra’s points came from its starting lineup, led by a 30-point effort from Tyler Thomas to lead four players in double digits scoring.