The Wayne State men’s basketball team lost their regular-season finale, but capped an outstanding regular season with a share of the Northern Sun Conference South Division title, while the Wildcat women came up short in their regular-season finale Saturday at Rice Auditorium.
In the men’s game, Sioux Falls spoiled Senior Night at Wayne State and sole possession of an NSIC South Division title for the Wildcats by rallying for a 79-77 win at Rice Auditorium
Due to the three-way tie, Wayne State (19-9, 14-8 NSIC) fell to the No. 3 seed in the South Division and will host North Division sixth-seed University of Mary in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament Wednesday evening in Wayne.
Wayne State jumped out early to a 14-3 lead in the first 3:30 of the game. The Wildcats maintained a double-digit lead a majority of the first half until a late run by the Cougars cut the Wayne State lead to six, 45-39 at halftime.
Wayne State pushed the lead to nine several times in the second half, with the final one coming at 55-46 with 14:47 to play after a Trevin Joseph 3-pointer. Sioux Falls charged back, however, and took their first lead of the game at 62-61 with 9:05 to play.
Wayne State responded and regained the lead, but the Wildcats’ final lead was at 68-66 on a Nate Mohr basket with 6:42 remaining.
USF scored the next eight points to take the lead for good at 74-68. Wayne State cut the deficit to one with :48 to play on a pair of Vance Janssen free throws and again at 78-77 on two more Vance Janssen free throws with :12.7 remaining.
Sioux Falls got one of two free throws from Drew Guebert with 12.3 to play for the final margin of 79-77, as a desperation half-court heave by Kendall Jacks at the buzzer missed the mark.
Jacks scored 20 points for Wayne State and moved into fifth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,575 points. He needs just two points to reach fourth place, held by Dennis Siefkes (1,576 points from 1969-73). Trevin Joseph added 17 points with Vance Janssen scoring 15 and Jordan Janssen 10.
Jordan Janssen grabbed six boards for the Wildcats. Vance Janssen had four assists while sophomore Ben Dentlinger recorded three blocked shots, making him the single season blocked shots leader with 39. The old record was 37 by Byron Haas in the 1986-87 season.
In women’s action, Brittany Bongartz tossed in a career-high 25 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Wayne State women’s basketball team dropped their regular season finale Saturday night to Sioux Falls 77-72, finishing the regular season 14-14 and 9-13 in NSIC games.
Wayne State never led in the game and rallied several times from double digit deficits to get as close four late in the game, but Sioux Falls always answered with a key 3-pointer to fend off each Wildcat rally.
Wayne State rallied from an early six-point deficit to end the first quarter trailing 19-16. Sioux Falls built the lead back to 10 with 6:50 left in the half, but Wayne State got as close as 31-28 on a Halley Busse layup before the Cougars closed the half with a 37-28 lead.
The Cougars led by 11 points twice in the third quarter and led 63-52 with 6:27 to go before the Wildcats got within four at 63-59 after two Bongartz free throws.
Wayne State kept in contention until the end, getting within three at 75-72 with :15 left on a Busse layup, but the Cougars hit two free throws to finish off the win.
Bongartz led WSC with her fourth double-double of the season, a career-high 25 points with 12 rebounds. She was 7-of-10 from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 at the foul line. Erin Norling added 14 points and Kylie Hammer had 12.
Norling led Wayne State with four assists while Busse was credited with four steals.
Both teams will play in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament on Wednesday evening. The women will play at the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., in a 6 p.m. contest, while the men will host University of Mary in a 6 p.m. matchup. The tournament moves to Sioux Falls Saturday, March 2 through Tuesday, March 5.
