DAYTON – After trailing by 14 points at the half, the Wright State men's basketball team closed the game on a 23-9 scoring run to grab a come from behind 82-76 victory on Thursday night against Cleveland State inside the Nutter Center in front of a nationally televised audience.
 
Wright State (14-16, 8-11 Horizon) led for just 2:48 in the win, scoring the opening points of the night and then battling from behind all game long before a pair of Michael Imariagbe free throws gave the Raiders the lead that turned out to be for good.
 
The Raiders now get set to close the regular season on the road Saturday at IU Indianapolis in a 2:30 p.m. tipoff, while Thursday's win locked up a first round home game in the Horizon League Championship inside the Nutter Center next Tuesday night against an opponent to be determined.
 
Cleveland State (19-11, 13-6 Horizon) shot 59 percent in the first half to build the 45-31 halftime margin before Wright State got things rolling in the second half. The Raiders responded out of the break with a 14-4 run to open the final 20 minutes that pulled the deficit to single digits before Cleveland State kept the margin in the five- to eight-point range over the next several minutes. Logan Woods delivered a four-point play with 7:27 to play to cut the margin to four points, only to see the visitors again push back to a seven-point advantage.
 
Brandon Noel split a double team and found a wide-open Solomon Callaghan for a three-pointer at the 4:50 mark to pull the Raiders within four again to spark the late push. Noel and Callaghan linked up again at the 3:13 mark to bring the margin to one, with Noel fighting to corral an offensive rebound and finding Callaghan open from straight on to bring the score to 74-73.
 
The Raiders took the lead moments later on Imariagbe's free throws after he was fouled battling for position on an offensive rebound attempt, taking the lead with 2:13 to play. Wright State then tallied the next six points down the stretch, forcing Cleveland State into a pair of turnovers while the visitors were 0-of-2 shooting, with the Raiders tallying 17 of the final 21 points over the last 4:50 dating back to the Callaghan three-pointer.
 
Wright State clawed back into the game thanks in large part to Alex Huibregtse, who had 14 of his 20 points in the second half as he finished the night with six three-pointers and filled his stat sheet with three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Noel also finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and a 5-of-6 mark at the free throw stripe as he just missed a double-double with nine rebounds to go with three assists.
 
Callaghan tallied 11 of his 14 points in the final 20 minutes, knocking down four triples of his own, while Imariagbe had eight points, aided by the go-ahead free throws, and Andrea Holden added eight points off the bench, giving the Raiders a first half spark with six points in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Wright State shot 68 percent overall in the second half (15-of-22) and connected on 9-of-11 from deep (82 percent) in the final 20 minutes, while defensively the Raiders forced Cleveland State into six second half turnovers that resulted in 13 points to aid in the comeback.
 
The Raiders finished the win shooting 57 percent overall (28-of-49) with a 57 percent mark from three-point range (12-of-21). Cleveland State connected at 58 percent overall (33-of-57) and was 7-of-18 (39 percent) from three-point range, however, the visitors made just two triples in the second half. The difference of the night came at the stripe, where defensively the Raiders only put Cleveland State at the line four times total (3-of-4, 75 percent) while going to the line 19 total times themselves (14-of-19, 74 percent), including notching a 12-of-16 stat line at the free throw line in the second half.
 
Four Cleveland State players finished with double digits in the loss, led by Dylan Arnett's 20 points and 15 points from Tevin Smith.