Wright State rallies to beat Detroit Mercy 66-63 and win Horizon League Championship

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — TJ Burch scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half to help top-seeded Wright State rally from a 12-point deficit and beat No. 3 seed Detroit Mercy 66-63 in the Horizon League Championship title game on Tuesday night.

Wright State used a 25-7 run, capped by consecutive 3-pointers from Logan Woods, for a 62-56 lead with 1:21 remaining. With nine seconds left, TJ Nadeau's 3-pointer pulled Detroit Mercy to 65-63. Michael Cooper then missed two free throws for the Raiders, but on the Titans' final possession Kellen Pickett blocked Orlando Lovejoy's layup attempt. Michael Imariagbe ended it with a free throw.

Pickett added 17 points and Imariagbe finished with 12 for Wright State (23-11). They each had seven rebounds.

Lovejoy scored 26 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field and 10 of 11 from the free-throw line to lead Detroit Mercy (17-15). Nadeau made four 3-pointers and scored 21 points. Legend Geeter added 11 points and nine rebounds.

Detroit Mercy closed the first half on a 13-1 run for a 29-26 lead at the break. Lovejoy scored nine points during the surge and finished with 13 in the first half.

The Titans led 49-37 with about 10 minutes to play.

It was Wright State’s seventh championship game in the last 14 seasons and the first meeting between the teams in the tournament since 2016. The Raiders have won 22 of the last 26 games against the Titans.

Wright State is the third straight team to complete the regular-season and tournament-title sweep, joining Oakland (2024) and Robert Morris (2025).

Up next

NCAA Tournament pairings will be announced on Sunday.

___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball