Thursday night league action took over the road schedule for the Wayne State College men’s and women’s basketball teams.
From Bresnan Arena in the Taylor Center in Mankato, Minnesota, WSC visited the defending DII national champs of Minnesota State Mankato men and the #21 women.
The Wayne State College men suffered an 83-53 decision while the Wildcat women lost 96-56 against the host Mavericks.
In the men’s game, Minnesota State-Mankato built a 43-24 first half lead. The Mavericks then outscored WSC, 40-29 in the second half. Final favored Minnesota State-Mankato winning 83-53 to improve to 15-9 (11-5 NSIC) as Wayne State College fell to 14-9 (8-9 NSIC).
Wayne State College was led in scoring by sophomore JJ Ferrin (6-12 FG/6-9 3PT) tying a career-high six made three’s for 18 points, three rebounds, one assist and one steal as junior transfer Kai Smith (3-9 FG/1-3 3PT/2-2 FT) added nine points, two rebounds, one assist and two steals.
Other scoring came from fifth-year senior Jay Saunders (four rebounds/three assists) and fifth-year senior Noah Erickson (two rebounds/one assist) both with five points, four-point scoring came from freshman Matt Noll (four rebounds/two assists/one steal) and fifth-year senior Cody McCullough (six rebounds/two assists/one steal/one block – 100th in career to tie for third in program history), fifth-year senior Sean Stokes (two assists) and freshman Nassir Binion (one rebound/one steal) each tallied three points as sophomore Landon Classen (one rebound/one steal) tacked on two points.
The Wildcats shot 18-53 (34%) from the field, 9-22 (40.9%) from the three-point line and 8-9 (88.9%) at the foul line.
Minnesota State-Mankato leaders were Kyreese Willingham with 28 points as Justin Eagins followed with 12 points.
The Mavericks finished 30-57 (52.6%) from the floor, 9-23 (39.1%) from behind the arc and 14-17 (82.4%) from the charity stripe.
Minnesota State-Mankato out rebounded WSC, 38 to 25 including 11 – 8 offensively which led to 15 second chance points compared to eight for the ‘Cats. WSC scored five points off of nine Maverick turnovers while Minnesota State-Mankato scored 20 off of 13 Wildcat turnovers.
Minnesota State-Mankato won the battle in the paint (36-16), fast break scoring (5-2) and bench scoring (23-19).
During the women’s outing, Minnesota State-Mankato led 27-19 in the first quarter before extending their lead with a 19-10 second quarter to go up 46-29 at half. The Mavericks outscored WSC, 21-16 in the third and 29-11 in the fourth. Final favored #21 Minnesota State-Mankato winning 96-56 over Wayne State College to improve to 19-4 (15-2 NSIC) as the Wildcats fell to 10-11 (7-10 NSIC).
Wayne State College was led in scoring by senior Delaney Clark (5-7 FG/4-6 3PT) with 14 points, two rebounds one assist, one steal and two blocks while senior Maya Fitzpatrick (4-13 FG/2-6 3PT/3-3 FT) added 13 points, five rebounds and one block.
Other scoring came from junior Meg Rietz (six rebounds/three assists/one steal) with nine points, sophomore Brooklyn Kruse (three rebounds/two assists/two steals/one block) followed with seven points, junior Kylah VanDonkersgoed (three rebounds/one assist) tallied five points, three-point scoring came from seniors Tate Norblade (one rebound/five assists/two steals) and Carsyn Boswell (three rebounds/two steals) as one-point scoring came from freshman Addy Johnson (one rebound) and junior Lily Fitzgerald (one rebound).
The Wildcats shot 15-50 (30%) from the field, 9-22 (40.9%) from the three-point line and 17-27 (63%) at the foul line.
Minnesota State-Mankato leaders were Natalie Bremer with 22 points, Destinee Bursch followed with 21 points as Elisabeth Gadient added 10 points.
The Mavericks finished 39-88 (44.3%) from the floor, 7-19 (36.8%) from behind the arc and 11-14 (78.6%) from the charity stripe.
Minnesota State-Mankato out rebounded WSC, 60 to 30 including 27 – 6 offensively which led to 18 second chance points compared to zero for the ‘Cats. WSC scored 15 points off of 14 Maverick turnovers while Minnesota State-Mankato scored 28 points off of 24 Wildcat turnovers.
Minnesota State-Mankato won the battle in the paint (52-10), fast break scoring (9-0) and bench scoring (34-23).
