After a full day off from competition, the Wayne State College men’s basketball team continued their season-opening weekend.
Back at the Hillyard Tipoff Classic hosted by Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Missouri, WSC competed against pre-season rated #20 Northwest Missouri State on Sunday.
The Wildcats were in another battle with seven ties and seven lead changes. WSC was able to pull away late to pick up a 75-64 win and begin their season at 2-0. The Bearcats fell to 0-2.
Wayne State College led 37-34 at the break before using a 38-30 second half advantage. Final favored the Wildcats winning 75-64.
Three were in double figures led by JJ Ferrin (6-14 FG/4-9 3PT/4-4 FT) with 20 points, one assist and one steal; Cody McCullough (6-12 FG/5-7 FT) added 17 points, team-high seven rebounds, tied for team-high four assists and one steal as well as Jay Saunders (5-10 FG/3-5 3PT/1-3 FT) who tallied 14 points, four rebounds, tied for team-high four assists and team-high four steals.
Other scoring came from Matt Noll (one rebound/one assist/one steal) with eight points, Sean Stokes (four rebounds/one assist/one steal) added seven points, Ryan Blum (three rebounds) tacked six points and Nassir Binion (three rebounds) totaled three points.
Wayne State College shot 28-57 (49.1%) from the field, 8-21 (38.1%) from the three-point line and 11-17 (64.7%) from the foul line.
Wayne State College outrebounded Northwest Missouri State, 36-29 (10-6 offensive) which led to 16 second chance points compared to eight by the Bearcats. WSC scored 17 points off 15 Northwest Missouri State turnovers while the Bearcats scored 14 points off nine Wildcat turnovers.
WSC won the battle in the paint (36-26), fast break scoring (15-7) and bench points (26-7).
The Wayne State College men’s basketball team will next host Barclay College (KS) on Friday, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. from Rice Auditorium.
