Mark Alstork scored 27 points off the bench, 20 in the second half, and two other Raiders finished in double figures as the men's basketball team defeated South Dakota 77-69 in the season opener for both teams Friday at the NIU Showcase in DeKalb, Illinois.

Neither team had more than a four-point lead until a Casey Kasperbauer three gave the Coyotes a 29-23 advantage with 5:05 remaining in the first half.  Alstork answered right back, though, with a three of his own and two Joe Thomasson foul shots in the final seconds helped close the Raider deficit to just 32-30 at the break.

South Dakota shot 41 percent in the opening 20 minutes compared to 39 percent for WSU.

The Coyotes scored the first seven points of the second half to go up 41-32, only to see the Raiders respond with a 10-2 run, the final seven coming from JT Yoho.  After South Dakota hit a foul shot, two free throws by Thomasson tied it and a three from the senior guard put Wright State ahead for good at 47-44 with 12:45 to play.

Eight points by Alstork in a 2:39 span extended the lead to 55-47 and WSU pushed the margin to as much as 64-51 on two Alstork free throws with 5:11 left

The Raider lead was 74-62 with just under a minute to play before the Coyotes outscored Wright State 7-3 the rest of the way.

WSU shot 42 percent for the game compared to 41 percent for USD, but also hit 10 of 24 threes and 19 of 25 foul shots while the Coyotes were eight of 24 and 15 of 23, respectively.

Alstork led all scorers with 27 for the Raiders, 20 coming in the second half, while Yoho posted a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds and Thomasson added 16 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. 

Wright State (1-0) continues play in the NIU Showcase on Saturday at 7:00 Eastern, facing Cal State Northridge.