Wayne State sank 13 3-pointers and held off a late Tampa rally to down the Spartans 72-63 Friday evening at the Eckerd Thanksgiving Classic Men’s Basketball Tournament in St. Petersburg, Florida. With the win Wayne State moves to 5-1 while the Spartans drop to 1-3.
Tampa scored the first four points of the game and only led one other time in the game at 6-5. The Wildcats used a 9-0 run moments later to take a 17-10 lead following back-to-back baskets from Jay Saunders at the 12:47 mark.
The Spartans closed to within five a couple of times but WSC responded and took their first double digit lead at 32-22 with 3:00 to play in the half on a David Harmon basket and closed the half with a 34-22 lead.
Wayne State held a double-digit advantage for most of the second half and held off a pair of Tampa runs to secure the win.
Thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by Nate Mohr and Cody McCullough, WSC took their biggest lead of the game at 42-25 with 15:57 remaining.
The ‘Cats still held a 45-34 lead with 13:22 to play when Tampa made their first run and closed within six at 47-41 with 11:46 left
Wayne State then scored the next seven points on a pair of Jordan Janssen baskets and a Nick Ferrarini trey and pushed the lead back to 13 at 54-41.
WSC still held a 67-52 lead with just under five minutes to play when the Spartans made their final push. Tampa got as close as five at 68-63 with 35 seconds to play, but the ‘Cats sealed the win with a Janssen basket and two Ferrarini free throws for the 72-63 victory.
Mohr and Justin Eagins each poured in 17 points for Wayne State. Janssen ended with a double-double on 10 points and 11 rebounds while Saunders also hit double digits with 10.
Wayne State shot 27 of 62 from the field for 43.5 percent, but hit 13 of 26 3-pointers for 50 percent, while connecting on 5 of 7 free throws.
Tampa made 23 of 52 shots for 44.2 percent. The Spartans were 6 of 14 from 3-point range and 11 for 14 at the charity stripe.
Jonathan Bryant II had a game-high 19 points for Tampa while Mykah Brown (13) and De’Andre Harvey (12) also reached double digits.
Tampa had two more rebounds than WSC 35-33. Janssen grabbed 11 caroms for the ‘Cats.
WSC forced 17 turnovers and held a 26-6 edge in points on turnovers over the Spartans.
Janssen had five assists while Mohr was credited with three steals.
Wayne State faces host Eckerd College (3-0) Saturday at 6 p.m. Central Time in Florida.
