DAYTON – AJ Braun's layup on the first possession of the afternoon gave the Wright State men's basketball team a lead it never relinquished, as the Raiders dispatched visiting Purdue Fort Wayne 75-63 inside the Nutter Center.
 
Wright State (12-10, 9-4 Horizon) scored seven of the afternoon's first 10 points before using a 19-7 run over an eight-minute stretch midway through the first half to push the advantage to double-digits against Purdue Fort Wayne (11-10, 6-6 Horizon).
 
After the visitors cut the advantage to just three with four minutes before the break, back-to-back Raider steals and scores gave Wright State a six-point lead at the break. The Raiders tallied a 14-2 scoring run early in the second half to push the lead back to double-digits, where it stayed the rest of the afternoon as the margin jumped to as high as 19 points down the stretch before settling on the final 12-point margin.
 
Holden finished with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting, evenly splitting his production with 12 points in the first 20 minutes before an 11-point second half. Grant Basile finished with 21 points, 16 of which came in the second half, while Calvin added 12 points as the third Raider in double digits. Tim Finke chipped in seven points, while Andrew Welage and Braun were also on the first half scoring column, adding five and four points, respectively.
 
Four different Raiders finished with seven rebounds each – Basile, Braun, Calvin and Holden – while Wright State passed out 23 total assists on its 31 made baskets, paced by Calvin's eight helpers as Finke added seven assists of his own.
 
Wright State shot 53 percent in the second half and connected at a 48 percent (31-of-64) clip overall, including hitting 10-of-26 three-point attempts. Defensively, the Raiders held Purdue Fort Wayne to 41 percent shooting (25-of-61) and saw the visitors hit just nine of their 29 three-point attempts.
 
The teams combined to hit seven of their nine combined free throw attempts, which all came in the final five minutes of the contest as only 18 combined fouls were whistled. The Raiders won the battle on the boards, 37-34, including pulling down 29 defensive rebounds, as they forced Purdue Fort Wayne into 18 turnovers that resulted in 18 points off those takeaways.
 
Jarred Godfrey led Purdue Fort Wayne with 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds, while Damian Chong Qui added 12 points as the only other Mastodon in double figures.
 
Wright State continues its homestand next weekend, beginning Thursday night with a 7 p.m. matchup against Detroit Mercy before a Saturday night meeting with Oakland in the Raiders first meetings with the Michigan schools this season.