Down nine early in the second half, the Wright State men's basketball answered with a 16-0 run and closed the game with a 17-5 burst as the Raiders moved into a first-place tie in the Horizon League standings with a 73-62 decision over Valparaiso Friday night at WSU's Nutter Center.

WSU scored the first six points of the contest, only to see the Crusaders eventually go in front 18-13 following a Darien Walker three-pointer at the 6:22 mark of the first half. 

Wright State answered with a Grant Benzinger three and a Biggie Minnis layup to tie it, but back came Valparaiso with a 7-1 run to take a 25-19 lead. 

A three-quarter court three from Benzinger, just ahead of the horn cut the deficit in half heading into the halftime break.

WSU shot just 31 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including three of nine from behind the arc, while Valpo shot 39 percent overall and hit five of 14 three-pointers.

David Skara put the Crusaders up 37-28 with a layup at the 15:31 mark of the second half and the margin was still nine at 41-32 on a Walker basket with 13:22 left.

The Raiders, however, responded with a 16-0 run over the next 3:24, a run that included three by Mark Alstork and JT Yoho along with a jumper and four free throws from Joe Thomasson, to make it 48-41.

Valparaiso chipped away at the deficit and regained the advantage at 57-56 on a E. Victor Nickerson dunk with 3:36 left before Alstork put WSU up for good with a three at the 3:10 mark.

Three Thomasson foul shots and an Alstork basket pushed the lead to seven but the Crusaders still had a chance as an Alec Peters three with 32.1 seconds remaining made it 67-62.

Valpo, though, would get no closer as Wright State scored the final six points of the game on four Thomasson foul shots and two by Yoho.

WSU shot 61 percent in the second half, including five of eight three-pointers, to finish at 45 percent and was 18 of 22 at the foul line  the final 20 minutes to end up at 21 of 29 for the game.  Valparaiso shot 34 percent in the second half to finish at 36 percent overall and was just eight of 11 at the stripe.

Thomasson led all scorers with 21 points, 16 in the second half thanks to a 14 of 16 performance at the foul line, while Yoho had 18, all but two coming after halftime.  Alstork added 12 while Benzinger had nine.

Walker paced Valparaiso (16-4, 6-1 Horizon) with 17 points off the bench while Peters posted a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Wright State (12-8, 6-1 Horizon) closes out the five-game homestand on Sunday, January 24, with a 2:00 contest against UIC.