West grad Malachi Smith named to conference all-freshman team, plays tonight for NCAA bid

While his former team, the Belleville West Maroons, were trying to clinch a second straight trip to the Class 4A State Tournament on Tuesday, Malachi Smith and the Wright State University Raiders were out for a trip to the NCAA’s big dance.

A 2018 graduate of Belleville West, Smith was expected to play a key role for the Raiders when they took on Northern Kentucky University in the title game of the Little Caesars Horizon League Tournament Championship game in Detroit.

The title game begins at 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN.

The winner earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament which begins March 21.

Smith, who scored nine points and added six rebounds in the Raiders 66-54 semi-final win over Green Bay on Monday, was recently honored as a member of the Horizon League all-freshman team.

The 6-3 Smith averaged 5.3 points and 2.7 rebounds this season. Smith was the Horizon League freshman of the Week (Jan. 11-17) when he had a career high 17 points and nine reounds in a win at Youngstown State. Smith averaged 9.1 points over the final seven games of the regular season.

This story was originally published March 12, 2019 at 1:40 PM.