The Wayne State men’s basketball team are a perfect 5-0 and sitting atop the Northern Sun Conference standings after wins in their home conference debuts over the weekend, beating Bemidji State (75-59) and Minnesota Crookston (72-52).
On Saturday, Wayne State posted just its third win in the last 12 meetings against Bemidji State, notching a 75-59 win.
The first half was tightly contested with six ties and 12 lead changes. Neither team led by more than three points until WSC put together a scoring run in the final three minutes of the first half.
Bemidji State’s final lead came at 25-24 at the 4:33 mark. Wayne State then scored the next seven points to take the lead for good. A Kendall Jacks jumper, two free throws from Trevin Joseph and a Joseph 3-pointer put the Wildcats in front 31-25, and they maintained that advantage by intermission, leading 34-28.
With Wayne State leading 41-36 at the 16:38 mark, the Wildcats scored the next six points to take their first double-digit lead on a jumper from Jacks. Bemidji State got as close as eight with 8:30 to go, but an 11-2 run by the Wildcats put the game out of reach.
Trevin Joseph scored a season-high 24 points to lead five double-digit scorers for the Wildcats. Jacks ended with 15 points while Nick Ferrarini added 13. Jordan Janssen recorded his fourth double-double, accounting for 11 points and 11 rebounds. Vance Janssen also hit double digits with 10. Derek Thompson scored 12 points with Jacob McNallan adding 11 for the Beavers.
Wayne State held a slight 38-37 edge in rebounding over Bemidji State thanks to 11 boards from Jordan Janssen. The Wildcats had just seven turnovers in the game to 17 on Bemidji State. Vance Janssen had four assists while Jordan Janssen had four blocked shots and three steals.
For the seventh time in the last eight games, Wayne State held their opponent to less than 40 percent shooting as the Wildcats pulled away late in a Sunday afternoon triumph over Minnesota Crookston.
Besides holding Minnesota Crookston to just 35.6 percent shooting (21-59), the Wildcats also shut down the second-leading scorer in the NSIC as Golden Eagle guard Harrison Cleary, entering the game as 22 points a contest, was held to just nine points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field.
Both teams started slow, as the score at the first media timeout was 2-2 with Wayne State having seven turnovers in the first six minutes of the game, matching their complete game total the night before.
Trailing 6-2, Wayne State scored eight straight points and led 10-6 following a three-point play by Al’Tavius Jackson with 12:00 to play first half. The game’s fourth and final tie was at 15-15 at the 8:14 mark following a layup from Crookston’s Harrison Cleary. Wayne State countered with a 7-2 run following a Luke TerHark 3-pointer with 5:28 to go in the half and finished the half with a 10-2 run to take a 34-27 halftime advantage.
The Wildcats never allowed a Minnesota Crookston comeback in the second half, thanks to 51.7 percent (15-29) shooting. After Wayne State pushed the lead to 12 at 44-32, Crookston got as close as eight at 44-36. The Wildcats then scored the next seven points for a 51-36 lead and pushed the lead to as high as 21 points before finishing with their ninth consecutive victory to improve to 10-1 overall and a league-best 5-0 in NSIC play.
Joseph led WSC in scoring with 18 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Jacks added 15 points with Vance Janssen (14) and Jordan Janssen (11) also hitting double figures for the Wildcats. Minnesota Crookston’s lone double digit scorer was Ben Juhl with 12 points.
Wayne State held a 39-35 edge in rebounding thanks to eight boards from Jordan Janssen. Joseph handed out five assists and had two steals. Jordan Janssen, Vance Janssen and Joseph each had two blocked shots.
Wayne State is off for the Christmas break and resumes play on Sunday, Dec. 30, hosting Augustana in a 3:30 p.m. contest at Rice Auditorium.
