For the second straight Friday, Grant Basile tallied a career scoring night as the Wright State men’s basketball team opened the weekend with a 79-70 home victory over Horizon League newcomer Robert Morris inside the Nutter Center.

The Raiders (12-4, 10-3 HL) saw Basile finish with 29 points, including 19 in the second half, on the way to a double-double in his third consecutive 20-plus point game as the hosts overcame four double-digit scorers from Robert Morris (3-8, 2-6 HL). Basile’s scoring output was the highest of any Raider this season.
 
Basile finished the night 13-of-20 from floor and 3-of-4 from the free throw stripe, while his 11 rebounds were also a game high. The big man played 38 minutes, including all 20 in the second half, joining Tanner Holden with that mark.
 
Holden finished with 16 points of his own, including an 8-of-8 mark at the free throw line, while passing out a game-high six assists. Jaylon Hall was the third Raider in double figures, finishing with 10 points off the bench in 27 minutes of action.
 
After the Raiders scored the opening points of the night on a Holden layup, the visitors scored the next 12 points to jump out in front. Wright State tracked down the Colonials, going on a 15-5 run of its own to pull even at 17-all at the eight-minute mark. The remainder of the half was back-and-forth, with the Raiders taking a three-point advantage into the break.
 
Wright State began the second half by scoring nine of the first 12 points, capped by a Loudon Love dunk with 17:11 remaining, before Robert Morris responded with a 9-0 run of its own to knot things at 40-all with 14 minutes to play. Following baskets from both sides, the Raiders rattled off a 10-2 run, keyed by four points from Basile and a three-pointer from Hall before a three-point play from Love, to push the advantage to eight points. Robert Morris cut the deficit to six a few possessions later, but were unable to get any closer as the Raiders kept the visitors at arms-length over the final 10 minutes.
 
After starting just 3-of-17 from the floor, the Raiders bounced back to finish the night with a 47 percent rate (30-of-64) overall while hitting 5-of-17 (29 percent) from three-point range. Robert Morris was 45 percent (29-of-65) overall and was 10-of-25 (40 percent) from long range. The difference came at the free throw line, where Robert Morris was just 2-of-2, while the Raiders were 14-of-17 (82 percent).
 
Wright State win the battle on the boards, 37-36, while tallying 48 points in the paint behind Basile’s career effort.
 
Robert Morris’ Kahliel Spear finished with a team-high 18 points, while Kam Farris had 16 and both Jon Williams and Trayden Williams finished with 14 points.

The teams wrap up the weekend Saturday afternoon with a 5 p.m. tipoff on ESPN+ and WRZX 106.5 FM.

GAME RECAP COURTESY WRIGHT STATE ATHLETICS