Wayne State won for the first time away from Rice Auditorium this season (0-9) as the Wildcats outlasted Winona State 102-97 in triple overtime in a Northern Sun Conference mens basketball game Friday evening at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota. WSC is now 6-12 on the year and 3-6 in the NSIC South Division while host Winona State drops to 7-8 and 4-5 in the NSIC. The game was the first triple overtime contest for the Wildcats since the 2003-04 season when WSC won 118-111 at Minnesota Crookston on January 17, 2004.
The triple overtime thriller featured 14 ties and 11 lead changes with late heroic baskets by both teams sending the game into extra sessions.
Winona State held an eight point lead in the first half at 23-15 with Wayne State coming back to cut the deficit to one at intermission 33-32.
The host Warriors held the lead for most of the second half and was in front 63-57 with 5:22 to play.
WSC rallied and took a 68-65 lead on a Ben Dentlinger 3-pointer with 2:35 remaining.
Winona State forced the first overtime when guard Devin Whitelow recorded a putback off a missed 3-pointer from Kevion Taylor as time expired sending the game into overtime at 70-70.
The Wildcats appeared to be in control of the first extra session, leading by seven at 81-74 with just 33 seconds left.
However Winona State made a pair of 3-pointers in the final 3.2 seconds of the first overtime and the second trey from Caleb Wagner with 0.5 to play sent the game into a second overtime at 83-83.
Wagners 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the second overtime gave Winona State a 91-89 advantage.
Wayne States Nick Ferrarini was short on a 3-pointer, but Henry Penner made a basket off the miss with 3.6 on the clock sending the game to a third extra session knotted at 91-91.
The Wildcats never trailed in the third overtime, building a six point lead at 98-92 with 2:55 to go and the Wildcats made four free throws late to hang on for the wild 102-97 win in triple overtime.
Wayne State made 37 of 77 shots for 48.1 percent, going 7 for 20 behind the arc and 21-25 (84%) at the free throw line.
Sophomore Nick Ferrarini led four Wildcats in double figures with a career-best 29 points. Sophomore center Jordan Janssen followed with 23 and sophomore guard Nate Mohr added 20. Junior forward Ben Dentlinger contributed a career-high 18 points in the win.
Winona States top scorer was Kevion Taylor with 28 points to go with 10 rebounds. Andrea Lo Biondo also had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Caleb Wagner also scored 23 points.
The Warriors were 35-77 from the field for 45.5 percent, including 10-36 from the 3-point line. Winona State was just 17-30 (56.7%) at the free throw line.
Both teams had 42 rebounds in the game. Janssen had nine caroms for WSC followed by Dentlinger with eight.
Janssen handed out a career-best seven assists and had two blocks for WSC.
The Wildcats will be in action again Saturday afternoon visiting Upper Iowa at 5:30 p.m.
Winona State used nearly 55 percent shooting (34-62) and outscored Wayne State 23-13 in the third quarter to snap a 33-33 halftime tie as the Warriors defeated the Wildcats 83-75 in Northern Sun Conference womens basketball played Friday evening at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota. Winona State improves to 10-3 and 6-3 in the NSIC South with the win while WSC drops to 10-5 and 5-4 in the league.
Wayne State never led in the contest, falling behind 12-7 at the midway point of the first quarter. After trailing 18-9 at the 2:26 mark, WSC closed the quarter with a pair of Erin Norling free throws, a Norling basket and a layup from freshman reserve Kassidy Pingel to cut the Winona State advantage to 18-15 after one quarter.
The Wildcats trailed twice in the second quarter by six points and trailed by five at 33-28 with 1:54 to play in the half. A Josey Ryan 3-pointer and jumper by Kylie Hammer tied the score at 33-33 heading into halftime.
The third quarter remained close until a late scoring surge by Winona State gave the Warriors a 56-46 lead.
WSC was down 45-42 with 3:56 to play in the quarter, but the host Warriors used a 3-pointer from Caitlin Riley at the end of the third quarter to take a 56-46 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Winona State took their biggest lead of the game at 62-48 with 9:10 to play, but the Wildcats made a charge at the Warriors and got as close as three at 70-67 with 3:09 to play following a layup from Norling.
The host Warriors then put the game out of reach scoring the next seven points to push the lead back to 10 at 77-67 and Winona State held off the Wildcats for the 83-75 win.
The 83 points scored by Winona State tied for the most points allowed by the Wildcats this season.
Norling led WSC with 21 points, her eighth game of 20 or more points this season. Brittany Bongartz and Halley Busse each added 15 points with Josey Ryan scoring 10.
Wayne State made 29 of 70 shots in the game for 41.4 percent, including 7 for 21 from 3-point range. The Cats were 10-12 at the charity stripe.
Taylor Hustad accounted for 20 points and 12 rebounds to lead Winona State. Emma Fee chipped in 12 points with Taylor Klug adding 11. Emily Kieck added a double-double with 11 points and 11 assists.
Winona State finished the game making 34 of 62 shots for 54.8 percent. The Warriors made 7 of 19 from the 3-point line and 8 for 11 at the foul line.
The Warriors held a slight 36-34 edge in rebounding over the Wildcats despite nine boards from Norling.
Norling also led the Wildcats in assists with five while Josey Ryan had two steals.
Wayne State will be in action again Saturday afternoon visiting Upper Iowa for a 3:30 p.m. contest.
