Wayne State shot over 50 percent for the third straight game and the Wildcats had four players in double figures in a 75-60 victory over Northern State Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference men’s basketball played at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The ‘Cats are now 16-13 and 9-13 in the league while NSU is 10-18 and 8-14 in the NSIC.
Northern State scored the first five points of the game and led early, but Wayne State came back and took their first lead on a David Harmon 3-pointer for a 10-7 advantage with 13:46 to go in the half.
WSC held a three-point lead at 19-16 with 7:30 remaining in the first half when the ‘Cats went on a scoring run to take a double-digit lead. Baskets by Alec Millender and Cody McCullough to go with a three-point play from Trey Deveaux gave the ‘Cats at 26-16 lead.
The ‘Cats pushed the lead to 15 at 33-18 before closing the opening half with a 39-27 lead at the break.
Wayne State held a double-digit advantage for much of the second half. The ‘Cats took their biggest lead of the night at 18 points – 55-37 following consecutive 3-pointers from JJ Ferrin.
Northern State closed to within seven at 64-57 with 4:41 to play, but WSC got back-to-back baskets from Deveaux and the lead stayed double digits the rest of the game finishing with a 75-60 win.
Deveaux had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead four Wildcats in double figures. Ferrin added 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting 4 for 6 from downtown. Alec Millender finished with 12 points and Elijah Watson had 10.
Wayne State made 28 of 55 shots for 50.9 percent, going 9 of 21 behind the arc and 10 for 11 at the line.
Jacksen Moni scored 19 points for Northern State while Michael Nhial chipped in 11.
The Wolves shot 35.2 percent making 19 of 54 shots. NSU was 6 of 25 from the 3-point line and 16 for 18 at the charity stripe.
WSC held a 37-24 advantage in rebounding thanks to Deveaux’s 11 boards. Jay Saunders handed out seven assists and had two steals.
The Wildcats are the #10 seed for the 2024 NSIC Men’s Basketball Tournament and will play at #7 Augustana in the opening round Wednesday evening in Sioux Falls at 6 p.m.
Wayne State scored 31 points in the fourth quarter and rallied from a 13-point deficit with 1:50 to play in the third quarter as the Wildcats closed the women’s basketball season with a thrilling 67-65 comeback win over Northern State in Northern Sun Conference play Saturday afternoon at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. WSC ends the season with a 7-18 record and 4-18 mark in the NSIC while Northern State is now 20-8 and 16-6 in the NSIC.
The Wildcats trailed for a majority of the game, holding the lead for just 2:11 and most of that was early in the first quarter. Northern State shot 50 percent in the opening quarter (8-16) while holding WSC to just 25 percent (4-16) as the Wolves held a 17-12 lead after 10 minutes of play.
WSC got within two of Northern State a couple of times in the second quarter but the Wolves closed the first half with a 31-25 lead at halftime.
Northern State extended their lead in the third quarter, scoring seven straight points to take their first double digit lead of the game at 38-27. The Wolves took their biggest lead at 44-31 with 1:50 remaining in the quarter and closed the third stanza with a 48-36 lead.
The Wolves still held a nine-point lead (53-44) with 7:21 to play when the Wildcats started their comeback.
A Tate Norblade 3-pointer with 2:49 to play cut the Wolves’ lead to 59-57. After NSU made a 3-pointer for a 62-57 lead, WSC got a pair of free throws from Norblade and Carsyn Boswell to cut the NSU advantage to 62-61 with 2:25 remaining.
Northern State hit another trey to go up 65-61, but a Britney Ho basket on the next WSC possession reduced the Wolves lead to 65-63. Norblade made a jumper with 45 seconds left to tie the score at 65-65 and after forcing a turnover WSC got the ball back and Norblade drove around the left side and made a layup with just under five seconds to play for a 67-65 lead.
A chance by Northern State to tie the game missed from the left baseline as time expired and Wayne State capped the fourth quarter rally with the 67-65 win.
Ho led Wayne State in scoring with 15 points. Maya Fitzpatrick had 13 and Norblade added 11 points with nine coming in the fourth quarter rally.
WSC made 26 of 56 shots for 46.4 percent. The ‘Cats hit 4 of 14 behind the arc and 11 for 12 at the free throw line.
Alayna Benike led Northern State with 16 points. Rianna Fillipi added 15 points and Decontee Smith scored 11.
Northern State shot 44.8 percent from the field making 26 of 58 shots. The Wolves hit 8 of 18 3-pointers and were 5 of 7 at the line.
WSC held a 33-29 edge in rebounding as Kylah vanDonkersgoed led the ‘Cats on the glass with seven boards. Carsyn Boswell and vanDonkersgoed each had three assists and vanDonkersgoed had two of Wayne State’s four blocked shots.
