Wayne State 66 Mary 55
Senior guard Jason Jensen scored all 16 of his points in the second half to help Wayne State College pull away in a 66-55 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win Sunday afternoon over the University of Mary at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The game was moved back one day due to poor weather conditions Saturday. The Wildcats are now 6-2 overall and 2-2 in the NSIC while Mary slips to 5-3 on the season and 1-3 in league play.
The Wildcats held the lead for a good share of the first half that was close throughout. WSC built a pair of six point leads at 15-9 and 18-12 following a Ryan Rudloff three pointer with 7:27 to go in the first half. The visiting Marauders then reeled off seven straight points and took their first lead of the game at 19-18 following an Alex Dorr free throw with 5:01 left in the half. The two teams exchanged another lead and WSC used back to back jumpers by Amry Shelby to take a 24-22 lead at halftime.
After going scoreless in the first half, Wayne State's Jason Jensen opened the second half scoring the Wildcats' first seven points as WSC took a 31-24 lead with 16:33 to play. Mary came back and knotted the score at 34-34 on an Alex Dorr layup with 12:54 remaining. With the score tied at 36-36 at the 11:42 mark, the Wildcats scored nine straight points to gain momentum and take a 45-36 advantage on a layup by Elijah Miller with 7:31 left in the game. The 'Cats took a pair of 10 point leads and were up 58-48 with 1:42 remaining after a pair of Jensen free throws.
The Marauders pulled within five at 58-53 on a Cameron Lee layup with 48 seconds remaining, but WSC preserved the win by making eight of eight free throws down the stretch and went on to the 66-55 win over Mary.
Senior forward Brad Starken paced a balanced scoring attack for WSC with 18 points followed by Amry Shelby with 17 and Jason Jensen 16, all coming in the second half. The Wildcats shot 50 percent from the field making 21 of 42 shots. WSC was 6 of 17 from the three point line and canned 18 of 22 free throws (81.8%).
Anthony Moody and Cameron Lee each accounted for 15 points to lead the University of Mary. The Marauders made 21 of 48 from the field for 43.8 percent, hitting on 5 of 18 three point shots and 8 of 11 at the free throw line.
Wayne State outrebounded Mary 30-23 thanks to eight boards apiece by Ben Tasa and Jason Jensen while Alex Dorr corralled a team-high six boards for Mary.
Wayne State will be on the road next weekend for a pair of Northern Sun Conference games, visiting MSU Moorhead Friday night and Minnesota, Crookston Saturday night with both games starting at 8:00 p.m.
