Down four with 2:41 remaining, the Wright State men's basketball team scored the final seven points of the game to pull out a 73-70 season-opening win over Belmont Friday night at WSU's Nutter Center.

The Bruins scored the first six points of the game and led 15-7 on a Taylor Barnette three with 15:47 remaining in the first half, only to see the Raiders follow with a 12-4 run to tie it at 19 on a Grant Benzinger layup at the 9:40 mark. 

WSU led 30-25 on a Chrishawn Hopkins three with 4:20 left before Belmont closed the half with a 15-7 burst to go up 40-37 at the break.

Wright State shot 50 percent from the field overall in the opening 20 minutes compared to 48 percent for Belmont, but the Bruins were also nine of 12 at the foul line compared to just four of eight for the Raiders.

Neither team had more than a five-point advantage in the second half and there were seven ties through the initial 11 minutes of the period.  Belmont, though, led 70-66 on two Evan Bradds free throws with 2:41 to play.

That turned out to be the final points of the night for the Bruins, however, WSU followed with its game-winning 7-0 run, a run that started with a Hopkins layup.  Reggie Arceneaux then tied the game for the 15th time at 70 on two foul shots at the 1:10 mark.

Arceneaux then put the Raiders up 71-70 by making the first of two foul shots with 29 seconds left, but his second attempt rattled out and the Bruins grabbed the rebound.  An offensive foul at the 10.3-second mark, though, gave the ball back to WSU and a flagrant foul put Steven Davis at the line with 3.9 seconds left.

Davis missed both attempts, but on the resulting inbounds play, Hopkins went in for a layup to provide the final margin.

The Raiders shot just 30 percent in the second half and ended up at 40 percent overall compared to 46 percent in the second half and 47 percent overall for the Bruins, but WSU hit 16 of 24 free throws in the final 20 minutes while Belmont was 10 of 14.

Hopkins scored 21 points to pace Wright State while Arceneaux had 15 and Michael Karena 11.  Benzinger, in his collegiate debut, had eight off the bench as the Raider reserves outscored the Bruin bench 16-5.

Evan Bradds led Belmont with 21 points while Reece Chamberlain posted a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds, Barnette added 14 and Craig Bradshaw 10.

Wright State is right back in action on Sunday, hosting Ohio Dominican at 5:00.