If you like basketball games that go down to the wire, Thursday’s doubleheader at Rice Auditorium was right up your alley.
The Wayne State men got a career-high 21 points from Justin Eagins to edge the visiting Mustangs 68-65, and the Wildcat women got a career-high 26 points from Wayne native Kylie Hammer to outlast SWMS in overtime, 69-65.
In the men’s game, the two teams traded double-digit runs in the first half. Southwest went on a 13-0 run to take a 15-9 lead early in the first half, but the Wildcats countered with a 10-point surge to take a 23-18 advantage with 7:49 to go in the first half.
Leading 30-29 at the half, Southwest jumped out to a five-point lead at 37-32 with 16:18 to go and led 41-39 with 12:54 to go before the Wildcats took the lead for good with a 10-0 run, capped by a Jay Saunders jumper to make it 49-41 with 8:31 to go.
Wayne State led by as many as nine with 7:48 to play, but Southwest made a run and pulled to within one with :45 left on a 3-pointer by Grant Kramer. Southwest had a chance to tie the game at the end, but a 3-pointer at the buzzer missed the mark and the Wildcats hung on for the win.
Eagins scored a career-high 21 points, Jordan Janssen added 15 points, Saunders scored 13 and Alec Millender put in 10 to lead the Wildcats (5-3, 2-0 NSIC).
The women’s game was just as exciting, and they needed an extra period before the Wildcats were able to secure the win and improve to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in NSIC action.
Southwest was just 2-of-15 from the floor in the first quarter as Wayne State got out to a 17-12 lead, but Wayne State went cold in the second quarter and the Mustangs built a six-point advantage before Wayne State cut the deficit in half but intermission, trailing 28-25.
Wayne State went on a 27-18 run in the third quarter to take a six-point lead into the final period, but Southwest rallied from a five-point deficit in the final two minutes to send the game into overtime.
Wayne State trailed 65-64 late in the game, but Lauren Zacharias banked home a 3-pointer with :25 left to give Wayne State the lead for good. Annie Guentzel hit two free throws to seal the victory.
Hammer finished with 26 points, going 8-of-14 from the field and 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Kassidy Pingel added 12 points and 10 rebounds while Zacharias scored 10.
The two teams head to University of Sioux Falls Saturday. The men play at 3:30 p.m., with the women’s game to follow at 5:30 p.m.
