The Wright State men's basketball team raced out to a double-digit lead on Thursday night, scoring 19 of the game's first 22 points, and withstood a second half Detroit Mercy run before settling on a 98-86 final score inside the Nutter Center to become the first team in the Horizon League to reach the 20-win mark this season as five Raiders scored in double figures.
 
The victory improved Wright State to 20-5 overall with a 10-2 mark in HL play and gave head coach Scott Nagy his fourth straight season with 20-plus wins in his four years at Wright State. Nagy has now guided his teams to 20 or more victories in 16 of his 25 seasons as a collegiate head coach.
 
Wright State continues its final regular season homestand on Saturday night against Oakland in a 7 p.m. tipoff.
 
Thursday night, the Raiders jumped out from the opening tip and never trailed, scoring the first eight points of the game and leading 19-3 at the 14:06 mark. Wright State extended the lead to 47-33 at the half after shooting 58 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
 
The Raiders opened the second half on a 13-5 run over the first 2:46 of the second half to take a 22-point lead – a mark that would prove to be their largest margin. Detroit Mercy responded from there, going on a 27-9 run of its own over a six-minute stretch to pull to within four points at 69-65 with 9:31 remaining.
 
The two sides traded baskets over the next three minutes before Detroit Mercy cut the Raider lead to five on Antoine Davis' layup with three and a half minutes to play. The Titans then scored four of the next six points to pull the score to 86-83 with 1:57 remaining, but Wright State slammed the door on the potential comeback by ending the night on a 12-3 run of its own, keyed by a Bill Wampler three-pointer and back-to-back steals and scores.
 
Tanner Holden's steal and slam with 40 seconds remaining pushed the advantage back to nine before Jordan Ash poked away a steal of his own and Cole Gentry was fouled on his layup attempt. During the end of the play, Detroit Mercy's Justin Miller was whistled for the initial foul and an ensuing technical foul, giving the Raiders four free throws (all makes) and the ball – setting up Gentry for one final three-pointer to seal the night.
 
Wampler finished with a team-high 25 points for Wright State, adding five rebounds and three assists, while hitting 5-of-6 from three-point range. Gentry added 19 points of his own to go with four assists, while both Jaylon Hall and Loudon Love each scored 15 points. Love and Tanner Holden, the final Raider in double-figures with 10 points, each pulled down six rebounds to lead Wright State.

Wright State finished the night shooting 58 percent from the floor (38-for-66) after identical 19-for-33 shooting halves. The Raiders were 50 percent from three-point range (12-for-24) and went 10-for-13 (77 percent) from the free throw stripe. Detroit Mercy connected on 46 percent (30-for-66) of its shots and was 13-for-30 (43 percent) from three along with a 13-for-14 (93 percent) mark at the free throw line.
 
The Raiders lost the battle on the boards, 37-30, but forced Detroit Mercy into 13 turnovers resulting in 27 points.  Wright State also had a 48-22 advantage in points from the paint.
 
Detroit Mercy was led by Antoine Davis' game-high 28 points, but needed 24 shot attempts to reach the mark, while Dwayne Rose, Jr. finished with 20 points, Justin Miller had 14 and Chris Brandon tallied 12 points.