The Wright State men's basketball team had the lead for the final 30 minutes, but held off several comebacks by St. Bonaventure before the Raiders defeated the Bonnies 54-45 Tuesday night at the Nutter Center.

St. Bonaventure led 7-2 early before the Raiders went up 11-9 on back-to-back layups from Vaughn Duggins and Jordan Pleiman. The Bonnies regained the lead at 13-11 on a pair of foul shots each by Michael Lee and Zarryon Fereti, only to see WSU go in front to stay on a Todd Brown three with 10:21 remaining in the first half.

Wright State gradually built on the advantage from there and led 27-15 on a Duggins three at the 3:38 mark. The Bonnies, however, closed the period with a 9-2 run, five of those coming from Hillary Haley, to cut the deficit to 29-24 at the break.

Both teams shot well in the opening 20 minutes as St. Bonaventure was at 47 percent compared to Wright State's 44 percent. The Raiders led thanks to a 13-5 edge in points off of turnovers and 6-0 in bench scoring, all of those coming from Cooper Land on a pair of threes.

A Duggins jumper extended the lead to 39-29 with 13:12 remaining, but again the Bonnie came close, trimming the lead to four on three occasions before a Lee foul shot made it 43-40 with still 5:55 to play.

The Raiders, however, responded with a Scottie Wilson jumper and a Duggins three to push the margin back to eight and St. Bonaventure could get no closer than five the rest of the way, thanks in part to WSU hitting all six of its free throw attempts in the final minute.

Both teams struggled shooting wise in the second half as the Raiders were at 35 percent, including just one of eight from three-point range, to finish at 39 percent overall while the Bonnies hit for only 24 percent to end up at 35 percent.

Wright State led in rebounding (31-28), points in the paint (22-16), points off of turnovers (17-13), second-chance points (8-5) and bench scoring (10-2). The Raiders also hit all eight free throw attempts on the night while St. Bonaventure was 14 of 17.

Duggins was the only WSU player in double figures as he scored 16, but three other Raiders had eight in Wilson, Pleiman and Todd Brown. Land had six points and six boards off the bench.

Haley paced St. Bonaventure (5-7) with 16 points, 13 coming in the first half, while Lee added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Wright State, now 5-3 on the season, begins a five-game road swing on Saturday, December 22, as the Raiders head west to take on Cal State Fullerton in a 6:00 Eastern contest.