Wednesday, February 25, 2009
#14 Southwest Minnesota State 54 Wayne State 51
Southwest Minnesota State clinched a share of the Northern Sun Conference men's basketball regular season title Wednesday evening with a 54-51 win over Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. The visiting Mustangs, ranked 14th in NCAA Division II, won their 14th straight game improving to 24-5 overall and 16-3 in the NSIC while Wayne State dropped to 10-16 overall and 6-13 in league play.
Southwest Minnesota State raced out to an early 15-2 lead in the first 5:05 of the game and held a 30-23 advantage at halftime. Wayne State, who never led in the game, slowly chipped away at the lead and got as close as two points and had two chances at the end of regulation to tie the game but came up short. Southwest Minnesota State held a 42-31 lead with 11:32 left in the game, but WSC used a three pointer by Jonathon Thomas with 1:27 to play to cut the Mustang lead to two points at 49-47. Andy Beilke made a layup for SMSU with 1:10 to go, making the score 51-47. Thomas hit a jumper for WSC to cut the Mustang lead back to two at 51-49 with 42 seconds to play. DeAnthony Zanders of SMSU made two free throws with 38 seconds left to give the Mustangs a four point advantage at 53-49. Wayne State's Ryan Rudloff converted a lay in with 22 seconds to go to cut the SMSU lead back to two at 53-51. Kevin Andrews of SMSU was fouled with 18.9 seconds to play and made one of two free throws to give SMSU a 54-51 lead. WSC then moved quickly into front court and had Marcus Messersmith miss long on a three pointer with four seconds left. Thomas got the offensive rebound and passed to Ryan Rudloff on the left wing, who left a three pointer short as time expired and Southwest Minnesota State held on for the win.
Thomas scored a game-high 13 points to lead Wayne State and now has 998 points in his Wildcat career. Brian Metz also reached double figures with 11 points. WSC shot 19 of 52 from the field for 36.5 percent. The 'Cats were 5 of 18 from the three point line and 8 of 9 at the charity stripe.
For Southwest Minnesota State, Nick Dale and Scott Roehl scored eight points apiece. The Mustangs made 20 of 54 shots for 37 percent, including just 1 of 6 from the three point line. SMSU was 13 of 22 at the free throw stripe.
WSC held a slight 35-34 edge in rebounding over Southwest Minnesota State, the top rebounding team in the NSIC. Metz had nine caroms to lead Wayne State and all rebounders while Taylor Huseby and Ryan Krome grabbed six boards each for Southwest Minnesota State. WSC had 13 turnovers in the game to just six for SMSU.
Wayne State will play their final game of the season on Saturday night at Bemidji State starting at 8:00 p.m
