Wayne State 70 Concordia- St. Paul 62
The Wayne State men used a balanced attack to defeat Concordia – St. Paul 70-62 on Saturday night in St. Paul, Minnesota in NSIC Men's Basketball action. The Wildcats had four players in double figures on the night including Ben Tasa (Humphrey, Nebraska) who recorded his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Jason Jensen added a season-high 20 points. The win makes the Wildcats 10-9 overall and 6-9 in the NSIC and the loss drops the Golden Bears to 11-8 and 8-7 in the conference.
The Wildcats got off to a quick start in the opening half as WSC grabbed a 6-0 lead. Jason Jensen was red hot in the open stanza as the senior from Milwaukee, Wisconsin hit three straight three pointers and gave the Wildcats a 17-15 lead halfway through the stanza.
The Golden Bears took control and built their largest lead of the game at six with 2:19 remaining in the first half. Wayne State closed out the first half on a 9-2 run highlighted by a five point run by sophomore Amry Shelby who nailed a jumper and a three pointer. Jensen hit a fade away jumper as time expired in the first half to give the Wildcats a 33-32 lead going into the half.
The Wildcats started off the second half hot jumping out to a 39-33 lead thanks to a three pointer by Shleby. The Golden Bears then went on a 7-0 run to take a 40-39 lead at the 15:52 mark of the second half. The Wildcats battled back and took a six point lead once again after Brad Starken hit back to back three pointers to give WSC a 51-45 lead.
Adol Aluong would give the Wildcats their largest lead of the night at seven points after Aluong nailed a three pointer. The Wildcats would continue to hold on to their lead that was cut to five at 64-69 with 1:46 remaining. The Wildcats would stay strong and held off Concordia – St Paul in the closing seconds of the second half as the Wildcats defeated the Golden Bears 70-62.
Wayne State shot 52.1 percent from the field going 25 of 48. The Wildcats shot a season-high 55.6 from the three point line going 10 of 18. WSC shot 83.3 percent from the free throw line. The Wildcats owned the glass grabbing 33 rebounds compared to 26 for Concordia- St. Paul.
Concordia-St. Paul shot 44.4 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from the three point line. CSP shot 57.1 from the free throw line. The Golden Bears had only 10 turnovers on the night compared to the Wildcats 13.
Wayne State was led by Jensen who scored a season-high 20 points. Starken poured in 18 points and Amry Shelby poured in 12 points. Tasa earned his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds as Tasa went 5 of 8 from the field.
The Golden Bears were led by Brent Barz with 20 points going 10 of 16 from the field. Peter Olafeso added 15 points for CSP to go along with a team-high six rebounds.
Wayne State will be at home next weekend, entertaining Southwest Minnesota State Friday night (8:00 p.m.) and Minnesota State Saturday evening (6:00 p.m.) in a pair of Northern Sun Conference contests.
