The Wayne State men’s basketball team posted a 83-59 win over St. Cloud State in NSIC basketball action Friday at Rice Auditorium, while the girls faded late in a 72-64 loss to the Lady Huskies.
In the men’s game, Nate Mohr hit a pair of 3-pointers and Alec Millender added a basket to get the Wildcats off to an 8-0 start as they led from start to finish in the win. Wayne State built a 43-25 halftime advantage, thanks to Mohr’s 13 first-half points that included a trio of 3-pointers, while Jordan Janssen added 10 points in the first frame.
Wayne State’s led was in the 20-point range for most of the second half. St. Cloud was as close as 21 at 56-35 with 14:39 to go and got within 19 later in the half, but Wayne State was never threatened after that as they went on to the easy win.
Mohr tied a season high with 19 points and Janssen added 18 points to lead the Wildcats. Janssen has now scored double digits in 33 consecutive games, moving into eighth place on the all-time Wildcat scoring list with 1,457 points, just ahead of Larry Coney (1958-62) with 1,455 points. Redshirt freshman guard Justin Eagins scored 12 on the night while freshman Jay Saunders added 11 of the bench.
Freshman forward Cody McCullough had 12 rebounds for Wayne State, tying a career high. Senior forward Ben Dentlinger had nine boards to go along with five blocks in the game. Alec Millender led the team with three assists for the Wildcats.
In the women’s game, the Wildcats shot 50 percent from the floor, but 22 turnovers helped St. Cloud State come from behind to hand the Wildcats their fifth straight defeat.
Kylie Hammer had 13 points in the opening period, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give Wayne State a 21-18 first-quarter lead.
The game stayed close in the second quarter as the Huskies built a five point lead at 28-23 with 6:00 to go in the half. WSC then used 3-pointers from Hammer and Lauren Zacharias to gain a 29-28 lead and the Wildcats used a layup from Zacharias in the final 30 seconds of the half to take a 34-33 halftime advantage.
Wayne State led 60-59 on a Kassidy Pingel layup with 7:07 to play, but the Huskies scored the next five points to take the lead for good, limiting the Wildcats to just two baskets in the final seven minutes.
Hammer scored a game-high 27 points for Wayne State, while Zacharias also hit double figures with 17 points.
Tate Norblade and Abby Kopecky each had three assists while Norblade and Zacharias were credited with two steals apiece.
The two teams are back in action Saturday, hosting Minnesota Duluth. The women’s game is at 3:30 p.m., followed by the men’s game at 7:30 p.m.
