NSIC Tournament play began Wednesday evening for the Wayne State College men on the road.
From McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota, #10 Wayne State College visited #7 Winona State during the first round of the 2025 NSIC Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The Wildcat men fell behind late dropping a 63-59 decision.
Earlier this season on December 7, WSC secured a 68-63 home win over Winona State. This marked the third time in postseason history the teams have met with Winona State winning in 2008 at Winona 71-62 and in St. Paul, Minnesota during the 2001 Tournament 77-58.
On Wednesday, Winona State led 32-25 at the half and grew their lead to at-most 15 points early in the second half. Wayne State College then outscored the Warriors, 34-31 in the second half.
Tied at 58 with just under 10 seconds left in the game, Winona State hit a two-point layup to lead 60-58 while WSC only made one of two from the foul line with a chance to the tie the game with three seconds remaining. Final favored Winona State University winning 63-59 to improve to 20-9 as the Wildcats end their season at 16-13.
Wayne State College leaders were sophomore JJ Ferrin (9-18 FG/6-11 3PT/2-2 FT) with 26 points, five rebounds, one assist and one steal; fifth-year senior Jay Saunders (5-9 FG/2-2 3PT/1-2 FT) followed with 13 points, two rebounds, one assist and one steal as freshman Matt Noll (4-8 FG/0-2 3PT/2-2 FT) added 10 points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal.
Other scoring came from fifth-year senior Cody McCullough (eight rebounds/two steals/three blocks) with five points, fifth-year senior Sean Stokes (two rebounds/two assists/three steals) fouled out with three points as junior transfer Kai Smith (one rebound/one assist/two steals) tallied two points.
The Wildcats shot 22-53 (41.5%) from the field, 9-23 (39.1%) from behind the arc and 6-8 (75%) at the foul line.
Winona State was led in scoring by Luke Haertle (12 rebounds) and Connor Drew both with 14 points, Isaiah Thompson added 12 points and 10 rebounds as Jhei-R Johnes followed with 10 points.
The Warriors finished 22-55 (40%) from the floor, 7-22 (31.8%) from the three-point line and 12-16 (75%) from the charity stripe.
Winona State outrebounded Wayne State College, 37-28 including 11 to 5 offensively which led to 12 second chance points compared to four second chance points for the ‘Cats. Wayne State College scored 19 points off of 14 Warrior turnovers while Winona State scored 14 points off of 11 Wildcat turnovers.
Winona State won the battle in the paint (26-20) and bench scoring (8-2) as WSC won fast break scoring (5-2).
