Wayne State 57 Upper Iowa 53
The Wayne State College men's basketball held off Upper Iowa in the final minutes in a 57-53 victory Saturday night at Dorman Gymnasium in Fayette, Iowa. Freshman Amry Shelby from Marion, Iowa, led the Wildcats in scoring with 15 points on the night. The win makes the Wildcats 8-8 overall and 5-4 in the NSIC and the loss drops the Peacocks to 7-10 overall and 4-6 in the NSIC.
The Wildcats opened up the scoring and never saw the lead slip from their hands. The Wildcats shot 41.7 percent (10 of 24) from the field in the first stanza and held a lead of eight points midway threw the first half. But, the Peacocks used a layup by Chris Sullivan with nine seconds left in the first half to cut the Wildcats lead to 22-18 going into the break.
In the second half Wayne State built it largest lead of the game (9 Points) thanks to a layup by Brad Starken at the 2:12 mark of the half. The Wildcat's lead would then get smaller and the Peacocks came within five points with 33 seconds left, but the Wayne State defense stood tall in the final seconds and the Wildcats walked away with a 57-53 victory.
The Wildcats shot 44.2 percent (19 of 43) from the field, and a season low 16.7 percent (1 of 6) from the three point line and 58.1 percent (18 of 31) from the free throw line. The Wildcats out rebounded Upper Iowa with the Wildcats grabbing 33 boards compared to the Peacocks 31. Wayne State committed 15 turnovers on the night, while taking away five from UIU.
Upper Iowa shot 39.7 percent (23 of 58) from the field, 8.3 percent (1 of 12) from the three point line and 100 percent (6 of 6) from the free throw stripe. The Peacocks were out rebounded by Wayne State, but did hold an advantage in second chance points scoring 12 compared to Wayne State's six points. UIU also got 18 points from their bench on the night, compared to six points off the bench for the Wildcats.
Wayne State had three Players in double figures on the evening. Shelby led all Wayne State scorers with 15 points, the freshman was 5 of 9 from the field. Senior Brian Metz added 13 points and five rebounds, Metz scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half. Junior Brad Starken added 11 points and five rebounds. Brett Spiker led the Wildcats in rebounds with 11 on the night, Spiker also added seven points.
Upper Iowa was led by Matt Lesan who was the only Peacocks in double figures with 11 points. Both Dan Bestful and Mike LeFrenz added eight points on the night. Sam Elgin led Upper Iowa in rebounds with six on the night to go along with four points.
Wayne State will be at home next weekend for Northern Sun Conference games at Rice Auditorium, hosting NCAA Division II 4th-ranked Minnesota State Friday night at 8:00 p.m. and Southwest Minnesota State Saturday night at 6:00 p.m.
