Wright State won its fifth straight and picked up its first Horizon League win of the season Tuesday night as the Raiders led wire-to-wire in defeating the Cleveland State Vikings 71-62 at the Nutter Center.

WSU scored the first five points of the contest and extended the advantage to 19-6 at the 6:35 mark with a 12-1 run, one that saw five different Raiders score. The margin was still in double figures at 25-14 before Cleveland State closed the half with an 8-2 burst over the final 2:39, including a four-point by Eric Schiele.

The Raiders shot 40 percent over the opening 20 minutes while the Vikings hit just six of 27 shots for 22 percent. Both teams shot well at the foul line as WSU was 10 of 12 compared to eight of 10 for CSU.

Cleveland State cut the deficit to four twice in the early going of the second half, only to see Wright State go back up 13 at 56-43 following a Will Graham three with 5:51 left. The Vikings, though, scored the next nine points to again trail by four with still 3:04 remaining.

The margin was still four until back-to-back baskets from John David Gardner made it 62-54 at the 1:21 mark. A Trevon Harmon three with 25.5 seconds left trimmed the lead to 67-62, but Cleveland State would get no closer as Gardner and Todd Brown each hit two foul shots to round out the scoring.

WSU scorched the nets in the second half, hitting 15 of 23 shots for 65 percent to end the night at a season-best 54 percent. The Vikings shot 48 percent the final 20 minutes to finish at 36 percent, but were just four of 27 from three-point range. The Raiders made 21 of 30 foul shots compared to 18 fo 24 for CSU and led in points in the paint 24-16.

Cory Cooperwood led three Raiders in double figures with 15 points while Brown had a near double-double of 13 points and nine rebounds and Gardner chipped in 12. N'Gai Evans had nine off the bench and Graham added seven points, seven boards and six assists.

J'Nathan Bullock paced all scorers with 23 points for Cleveland State (10-5, 1-2 Horizon) and had nine rebounds while Norris Cole had 18, all in the second half.

Wright State (7-7, 1-2 Horizon), winners of five straight and seven of its last eight, opens the 2009 portion of its schedule on Saturday, January 3, against Youngstown State. Tip-off is at 7:00.