DEKALB, Ill.—Mark Alstork came off the bench and scored a career-high 27 points in his Wright State debut to lead the Raiders to a 77-69 win against South Dakota at the first game of the Northern Illinois Showcase Friday inside the Convocation Center. It was the season opener for both teams.
 
Alstork averaged 5.6 points as a freshman at Ball State two years ago and sat out last season after transferring to Wright State. He scored 16 points during an eight-minute stretch in the middle of the second half to help turn what was a tight game into a 69-57 Raider lead with three minutes to go. Alstork was 8 of 11 from the field with four triples and made 7 of 10 free throws.
 
South Dakota senior Tre Burnette scored 22 points and pulled down a career-high tying 16 rebounds in his season debut. Casey Kasperbauer made four 3-pointers and had 19 points. Eric Robertson, who earned his first collegiate start in his 85^th collegiate game, had 10 points.
 
The Coyotes led 32-30 at halftime behind 11 first-half points each from Burnette and Kasperbauer, and quickly pushed the lead to 39-30 after Robertson scored five of the Coyotes' seven points out of the break. South Dakota equaled its largest lead at 41-32 on point guard Shy McClelland's first bucket as a Coyote three minutes into the second half.
 
But South Dakota went cold and Alstork took over. He and teammates JT Yoho and Joe Thomasson combined to score 42 of the Raiders' 47 second-half points. Yoho finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Thomasson added 16 and seven, respectively.
 
South Dakota went more than eight minutes without a field goal while seeing its nine-point lead change to a 57-49 deficit with eight minutes to go. A Kasperbauer jumper ended the drought, but Thomas made two free throws and Alstork made five more from the stripe to make it 64-51 with five minutes left.
 
Yoho is a second-team preseason all-Horizon League choice after averaging 15.6 points and 6.4 rebounds a year ago. He was injured 16 games into the season and Wright State suffered mightily for it. The Raiders lost their last 10 games and 13 of their last 14 to finish last season with an 11-20 record.
 
True freshman Dan Jech scored seven points in nine minutes off the bench in his Coyote debut. South Dakota's other scholarship freshman, Tyler Hagedorn, played 10 minutes off the bench and had one rebound and two assists. He missed the four 3-point shots he took.
 
South Dakota will regroup and take on Northern Illinois at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on day two of the Showcase. The Coyotes face CSUN at 1 p.m. Sunday.