Wayne State’s men’s basketball team dropped a pair of home matchups against NSIC Northern Division competition over the weekend at Rice Auditorium.
On Friday, MSU Moorhead built a 12-point lead in the opening five minutes and never trailed as the Dragons downed Wayne State 82-71.
The visiting Dragons rode the red-hot start by sophomore Gavin Baumgartner, who scored 20 points in the opening 10:15 of the contest, helping the Dragons to an early 26-15 advantage.
Wayne State battled back and forged a 28-28 tie following a jumper from Al’Tavius Jackson, but the Dragons quickly pushed the lead back to double digits and took a 48-39 lead into the locker room.
The Dragons led by 11 before the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run to close to within 58-56 on a Henry Penner 3-pointer, but the Dragons regained momentum and never let Wayne State closer than three points the rest of the way.
Jordan Janssen paced Wayne State with 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field. Also reaching double figures for Wayne State were Nate Mohr (12), Nick Ferrarini (11) and Nate Thayer (10). WSC won the rebounding battle 38-35 thanks to a career-best 13 caroms from Ben Dentlinger.
On Saturday, Northern State sophomore forward Parker Fox posted a triple-double with 24 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocked shots to lead the Wolves in a 82-72 win.
The visiting Wolves used an efficient attack to build a 20-10 lead on the Wildcats 7:30 into the contest. A Henry Penner 3-pointer got Wayne State within eight at 34-26 with 3:26 left in the half, but Northern State closed the half strong and finished with their biggest lead of the half at intermission holding a comfortable 44-28 lead.
Wayne State closed to within eight at 66-58 following a layup from Penner with 4:25 to play, but that’s as close as the Wildcats would get as the Wolves pulled away for the win.
Penner poured in a career-high 17 points for Wayne State, going 6-of-10 from the field and 5-for-7 from the 3-point line. Jackson added 16 points on 8-14 shooting while Janssen continued his streak of double digit scoring this season with 12 points along with 10 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the year.
Janssen, Nick Ferrarini and Nate Mohr each had three assists while Janssen notched two blocks.
Wayne State (6-15, 3-9 NSIC) will be on the road this weekend, playing NSIC South Division games at Minnesota State Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and Concordia-St. Paul Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
