Both of the Wayne State College men’s and women’s basketball teams returned to the home court to open the weekend.
From Rice Auditorium, WSC played their third straight home game with St. Cloud State in town.
The Wayne State College men suffered a 65-53 loss while the Wildcat women dropped a 55-52 decision in a game which showcased nine lead chances and 12 ties against the visiting Huskies.
Before the men’s game, Jeff Kaminsky was recognized as all-time wins leader in program history with 129 victories in nine seasons. A game ball was presented to coach Kaminsky by Director of Athletics, Mike Powicki. Coach Kaminsky is the all-time wins leader for the WSC men (129) in nine season as has accumulated 581 career wins in 38 total seasons.
In the men’s game, Wayne State College led 31-26 after the first half and built their lead up to eight points early in the second half. The visiting Huskies outscored WSC, 39-22 in the second half. Final favored St. Cloud State winning 65-53 to win back-to-back improving to 17-10 (13-6 NSIC) as the Wildcats fell to 15-11 (9-11 NSIC).
Wayne State College used a basket from junior transfer Kai Smith on layup with 11:59 to play in the second half. That was the last Wildcat basketball from the field as WSC scored their next 10 points from the foul line.
Wayne State College was led in scoring by sophomore JJ Ferrin (5-10 FG.5-8 3PT/1-2 FT) with 16 points, one assist, one steal and one block as fifth-year senior Jay Saunders (3-10 FG/0-1 3PT/7-7 FT) followed with 13 points.
Other scoring came from fifth-year senior Cody McCullough (eight rebounds/two assists/two steals) with eight points, sophomore Matt Noll (five rebounds/one steal/one block) added six points, Smith (four rebounds/two assists/three steals) tallied four points as two-point scoring came from fifth-year senior Sean Stokes (two rebounds/one assist), fifth-year senior Noah Erickson and senior Ryan Blum (three rebounds/one assist).
WSC shot 17-51 (33.3%) from the field, 5-18 (27.8%) from behind the arc and 14-21 (66.7%) at the foul line.
St. Cloud State leaders were Lucas Morgan with 15 points, Luke Winkel added 13 points, Lee Marks II tacked on 12 points as Nate Dahl scored 11 points.
SCSU finished 20-53 (37.7%) from the floor, 5-26 (19.2%) from the three-point line and 20-27 (74.1%) from the charity stripe.
St. Cloud State outrebounded Wayne State College, 43 to 32, including 12 – 7 offensively which led to nine second chance points compared to four by the Cats. WSC scored 14 points off of 15 Husky turnovers while SCSU scored 23 points off of 17 Wildcat turnovers.
St. Cloud State won the battle in the paint (30-24), fast break scoring (14-9) and bench scoring (21-8).
During the women’s outing, it was a back-and-forth battle where WSC took the early 10-8 first quarter lead followed by a 14-13 advantage in the second quarter to go up 24-21 at half. The visiting Huskies then outscored Wayne State College, 18-14 in the third and 16-14 in the fourth. Final favored St. Cloud State winning 55-52 thanks to a three-pointer with just under three seconds remaining in the game. WSC missed the potential game-tying three. SCSU won their second straight improving to 12-12 (9-10 NSIC) as the Wildcats have now lost four straight falling to 10-14 (7-13).
Wayne State College had a streak of 347 straight games with at-least one made three-pointer snapped dating back to January 4, 2013 after going 0-14 Friday night from deep.
Wayne State College was led in scoring by senior Maya Fitzpatrick (5-12 FG/0-3 3PT/6-6 FT) with 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals as senior Tate Norblade (2-5 FG/0-1 3PT/6-6 FT) added 10 points, one round, two assists and one steal.
Other scoring came from junior Meg Rietz (five rebounds/one assist/two steals/one block) and sophomore Brooklyn Kruse (one rebound) both had eight points, junior Kylah VanDonkersgoed (three rebounds/one block) tallied six points as two-point scoring came from senior Delaney Clark (one rebound/one assist) and junior Rachel Dahlen (one rebound/one steal).
WSC shot 18-47 (38.3%) from the field, 0-14 (0%) from behind the arc and 16-21 (76.2%) at the foul line.
St. Cloud State leaders were Rachel Kottke (hit go-ahead three late) with 17 points, Jada Eggebrecht added 11 points as Alana Zarneke followed with 10 points. Reagan Briggs grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
SCSU finished 21-53 (39.6%) from the floor, 5-18 (27.8%) from the three-point line and 8-14 (57.1%) from the charity stripe.
St. Cloud State outrebounded Wayne State College, 42 to 24, including 15 – 5 offensively which led to 10 second chance points compared to two by the Cats. WSC scored 18 points off of 14 Husky turnovers while SCSU scored five points off of nine Wildcat turnovers.
Wayne State College won the battle in the paint (36-28) and fast break scoring (4-3) as SCSU won bench scoring (24-12).
The Wildcats will see their regular season come to an end on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Minot State.
