Wayne State 74 Northern State 72
Wayne State College senior forward Brett Spiker poured in a career-high 27 points to go with 11 rebounds to power the Wildcats in a thrilling 74-72 win over Northern State Friday evening in the Northern Sun Conference opener for both teams. The game featured 14 lead changes and three ties in the second half as WSC is now 2-4 overall and 1-0 in league play while Northern State drops to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in the Northern Sun Conference.
The two teams battled back and forth early in the game, exchanging four lead changes and five ties until Wayne State put together a strong scoring run to end the first half to take a 40-31 lead at the intermission. Trailing 20-17 at the 10:01 mark of the first half, the Wildcats went on a 12-0 run over the next 6:21 to take a 29-20 lead following an Amry Shelby lay up with 4:20 to play in the first half. WSC had a 10 point lead at 34-24 with 2:05 left in the half following a jumper by Brett Spiker and ended the first half with a 40-31 lead.
Northern State came out strong in the second half and outscored WSC 16-7 and tied the score at 47-47 on a Marty Gregor layup with 14:41 to play forcing the Wildcats to take a timeout. The Wolves would build a seven point lead at 60-53 with 9:07 to play following a Brett Newton layup and then Wayne State made their move. The Wildcats scored the next eight points, capped by a three point play from Spiker, to take a 61-60 lead with 7:22 to play. Neither team held a lead of more than two points the rest of the way.
A Derek Hoellein three pointer put Northern State in front 68-66 with 3:12 remaining. Wayne State's Ryan Rudloff answered with a trey to put the 'Cats up 69-68 with 2:51 remaining. Mitch Boeck's jumper in the lane gave Northern State a 70-69 advantage with 2:18 to play. Wayne State's Amry Shelby made a layup with 57 seconds to play, giving WSC the lead back at 71-70. Northern's Collin Pryor then gave the Wolves the lead back at 72-71following a jumper, but the next possession saw WSC work the ball inside to Spiker and he made the shot to put the 'Cats up 73-72. Northern State's Mitch Boeck then missed a back door layup with six seconds remaining and Ryan Rudloff was fouled, making one of two free throws with 3.3 seconds to play. Northern attempted a desperation shot that was well short from outside of half court as the buzzer sounded and Wayne State held on for the thrilling 74-72 win over Northern State.
Spiker finished the night 10 of 12 from the field and 7 of 8 at the charity stripe for his career-high 27 points, nearly doubling his previous career-high of 14 points on two different occasions. He also led the Wildcats in rebounding with 11 caroms. Freshman guard Amry Shelby tied his career-high with 18 points while Jason Jensen poured in a season-high 13 points for WSC.
The Wildcats made 26 of 51 shots from the field for 51 percent, but were just 3 of 16 from the three point line. WSC was 19 of 26 at the charity stripe and had 16 assists to just 13 turnovers.
For Northern State, Derek Hoellein sank seven three pointers, going 7 of 12 from the field, to lead the Wolves in scoring with 21 points followed by Mitch Boeck with 18 points, Marty Gregor 11 and Collin Pryor 10. The Wolves made 27 of 51 shots from the field for 52.9 percent and hit 9 of 17 three point shots. NSU was 9 of 15 at the free throw line.
WSC held a 33-26 advantage in rebounding thanks to Spiker's 11 rebounds while Jensen added six boards. Northern State's top rebounders were Boeck, Jordan King and Casey Becker with four apiece.
Wayne State be in action again Saturday evening hosting the University of Mary in a Northern Sun Conference contest at 6:00 p.m.
