The Wayne State men’s basketball team suffered their first Northern Sun Conference loss of the season Sunday, while the Wildcat women couldn’t overcome a slow start against 23rd ranked Augustana in a conference home matchup Sunday at Rice Auditorium.
In the men’s game Vance Janssen sank a layup with 3.8 seconds remaining to put the Wildcats ahead 71-69 but Augustana’s Matt Cartwright hit a desperation 30-footer from the right wing as time expired to give the Vikings a 72-71 win over the Wildcats in a NSIC matchup that featured the two hottest teams in the league.
The Wildcats opened the scoring with six points off the hands of Trevin Joseph. It would be a lead they would not relinquish in the first half, extending their lead to as much as 11 at 23-12 following a Luke TerHark 3-pointer at the 10:07 mark of the first half.
Augustana got within five at 23-18, but the Wildcats pushed the advantage back to 11 on a Kendall Jacks three-point play at the 4:56 mark for a 29-18 lead. The Vikings got as close as five again at 31-26, but Wayne State took a 35-25 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Augustana came out of the gates in the second half on fire, eventually taking their first lead of the game with 15:09 remaining in the half on a Dylan LeBrun 3-pointer at 42-39.
Wayne State retook the lead 30 seconds later from a Jordan Janssen fast break layup. The Wildcats increased their lead to six several times, the last coming at 61-55 on a Jacks layup with 6:30 to play.
Augustana stormed back and held a pair of one-point leads late, including 64-63 following a pair of Jameson Bryan free throws with 2:35 to play. Wayne State answered with a pair of Joseph free throws and a Jordan Janssen layup for a 67-64 lead.
Tied 69-69 with :31 left, the Wildcats held for what was thought to be the last shot. Vance Janssen drove into the lane, floating the ball over a host of Augustana defenders and into the net to give the Wildcats a two-point lead at 71-69 with 3.8 seconds remaining.
The Vikings responded with the 3.8 seconds they had remaining as Cartwright hit a last-ditch trey as time expired, ending Wayne State’s nine-game win streak that was the longest in program history since the 1999-2000 season.
Joseph led Wayne State with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Jacks also hit double digits with 13 followed by Jordan and Vance Janssen with 10 points apiece.
Ben Dentlinger had seven caroms for the Wildcats followed by Jordan Janssen with six. Joseph had a team-high five assists while Dentlinger recorded three blocked shots.
Wayne State saw a nine-game win streak snapped with the setback, falling to 10-2 and 5-1 in the NSIC South Division, while the Vikings have now won six straight games and are 9-3 and also 5-1 in league play.
In the women’s matchup, Augustana used 60 percent shooting for the first 15 minutes of the game and took down Wayne State College 88-74.
Trailing 15-3 going into the first media timeout, the Wildcats were put on their back foot from the opening tip. The Vikings used a 6-for-10 effort from the 3-point line to help extend their lead early.
Wayne State trailed by as much as 23 (48-25), but slowly chipped away at the lead with defensive pressure and efficiency from the 3-point line. An 18-4 run on the brink of halftime, with Andrea Larson and Kylie Hammer accounting for 13 of the 18 points, helped the Wildcats close the gap within single digits heading into halftime, 52-43.
The third quarter saw the Vikings build a pair of 16-point leads, but Wayne State closed the deficit to eight at 65-57 on a Larson 3-pointer at the 2:04 mark of the quarter before Augustana finished with a 69-58 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Augustana maintained a double-digit lead for much of the fourth quarter, with the Wildcats getting as close as nine at 71-62 following an Erin Norling layup with 7:19 remaining. Despite going 0-for-12 from the 3-point line in the second half, the Vikings pushed the lead back to double digits and finished with the 14-point win.
Larson paced the Wildcats (8-4, 3-3 NSIC) with a season-high 16 points while Hammer and Halley Busse added 14 points each. Brittany Bongartz recorded her first double-double of her career, collecting 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Bongartz hauled in 11 boards for the Wildcats with Halley Busse adding seven. Busse also had a team-high six assists and recorded three steals along with Maggie Lowe.
Both Wayne State teams will be on the road this weekend, visiting Sioux Falls Friday evening at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. and Southwest Minnesota State Saturday with games at 4 and 6 p.m.
