The Wayne State men’s basketball team stole a win on the road Saturday, while the Wildcat women fell in action at Minnesota Duluth.
In the men’s game Vance Janssen drove the length of the court with 4.3 seconds left and hit the game-winning lay-in as time expired to give Wayne State a come-from-behind 79-77 win over the Bulldogs, moving the Wildcats record to 7-15 overall and 5-11 in NSIC play.
Wayne State held the lead for most of the first half, building early leads of 11-5 and 18-11 before the hosts would rally. Wayne State led by as many as eight points before Duluth came back to tie the game, and Austin Esters closed the half with a layup to give Wayne State a 41-39 halftime lead.
The game went back and forth in the second half with six ties and six lead changes. Wayne State led 59-53 with 12:10 left on a three-point play by Kendall Jacks, but Duluth rallied to tie the score at 61-61 with 9:20 left.
Duluth built a 72-66 lead with 2:54 to go before Wayne State rallied with a Matt Thomas 3-pointer sandwiched between two Jacks layups to make it 73-72 with 1:40 to go.
Janssen broke a 73-73 tie with a three-point play with 1:09 to go, but Duluth came back to tie the game with 4.3 seconds to go. Janssen took the inbounds pass and drove the length of the court for a running layup that scored at the buzzer for the two-point win.
Jacks led the Wildcats with 18 points, Janssen added 15, Esters put in 14 and Brian Goodwin had 11. Janssen led the team with five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
In the women’s game, the Wildcats were a dismal 6-of-26 from the field in the second half as the Bulldogs came away with a 64-52 win, ending a seven-game losing streak to the Wildcats.
Wayne State shot the ball well early on, going 8-of-14 from the floor to take a 19-14 lead after one period. Wayne State led 25-22 on an Anna Martensen layup with 7:53 to go in the half, but Duluth went on a nine-point surge to take a 31-25 lead and never trailed after that.
Wayne State tied the game at 31-31 on two Maggie Schulte free throws early in the third quarter, but the Wildcats’ shooting woes started after that and the Wildcats never got closer than four points the rest of the way, falling to 15-6 overall and 10-6 in NSIC play.
Paige Ballinger had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the way. Schulte added 14 points.
Wayne State is home next weekend, hosting Bemidji State on Friday and Minnesota Crookston on Saturday.
