St. Cloud State 74 Wayne State 66

            St. Cloud State held off a late second half rally to down Wayne State College 74-66 Friday evening in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball played at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  The host Huskies moved to 15-4 overall and 9-3 in the NSIC while the Wildcats dropped to 9-10 on the season and 6-6 in league play.  After St. Cloud State built a 57-33 lead midway through the second half, WSC outscored the Huskies 33-17 down the stretch to make it a close game.

            The Wildcats got off to a strong start, leading 11-8 early following a three point play by Brett Spiker at the 13:58 mark of the first half.  However, the host Huskies gained momentum and used a 15-2 run over the next 5:16 to take a 23-13 lead on a Jesse Fisher dunk with 8:32 to play in the first half.  St. Cloud State then used a sizeable rebounding advantage (23-11 with 14 offensive rebounds) to build on their lead, taking a 39-21 advantage at halftime.

            In the second half, St. Cloud State built a 24 point lead at 57-33 with 10:42 to play.  But Wayne State did not give up and cut the lead down to 10 points at 68-58 with 3:46 remaining on a Brad Starken three pointer.  Moments later, WSC pulled within 10 points again at 71-61 on another Starken three pointer and Starken drained a late trey on the Wildcats' final possession to make the final score 74-66.

            For Wayne State, Starken finished with a team-high 17 points followed by senior forward Brett Spiker with 16 points and 12 rebounds, his ninth double-double of the season.  Freshman guard Amry Shelby added 16 points while junior guard Jason Jensen contributed 12 points to round out four double digit scorers for the Wildcats. 

            Wayne State shot 42.9 percent from the field, making 21 of 49 shots.  The Wildcats hit 6 of 11 shots behind the three point line and 18 of 24 at the free throw stripe.

            St. Cloud State's leading scorer was senior center Matt Schneck with 18 points.  Andrew Bernstetter added 14 points and 11 rebounds while Josh Ormann finished with 11 points.  The Huskies made 28 of 61 shots from the field and hit just 3 of 18 from the three point line and 15 of 17 from the charity stripe.

            The Huskies outrebounded Wayne State 37-32 with 15 of their rebounds coming on the offensive end.  Bernstetter's 11 boards led SCSU while Spiker's 12 caroms paced Wayne State on the glass.  WSC had 18 turnovers in the game to 15 for St. Cloud State.

            Wayne State will be in action again Saturday evening paying a visit to Concordia-St. Paul for a Northern Sun Conference contest starting at 8:00 p.m.