Concordia-St. Paul 63 Wayne State 61
Concordia-St. Paul used a late run to take the lead, then held off a rally by Wayne State, to top the Wildcats 63-61 Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball played at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. With the win, the Golden Bears take over sole possession of sixth place in the NSIC at 7-6 in league play and 10-10 overall while WSC slips to a three-way tie for seventh in the league at 6-7 in the NSIC and 9-11 overall.
The game was tightly contested throughout as neither team held a lead of more than six points. WSC held the lead for a majority of the first half, leading by as many as five points numerous times. The last five minutes of the first half saw each team trade runs entering the locker room. With WSC leading 26-21 following an Amry Shelby jumper with 4:55 to play in the half, Concordia-St. Paul then scored the next six points and took a 27-26 lead at the 2:44 mark on a Craig Heiman three point play. But WSC closed the half scoring the next six points on baskets by Shelby, Brett Spiker and Jason Jensen to take a 32-27 halftime lead.
The second half was more of the same as the lead changed hands seven times to go along with four ties. With the score tied at 52-52 with 7:03 to play, Concordia-St. Paul scored six straight points while holding WSC without a point for 5:04 to take their biggest lead of the game at 58-52 on a Sammy Ricks jumper with 3:38 remaining. But WSC got back into the game thanks to a technical foul called on Concordia-St. Paul's Thomas Bassett with 2:11 to play. Wayne State's Brad Starken made the two technical free throws to cut the Golden Bear lead to four and a three point play by Elijah Miller with 1:58 remaining reduced the CU lead to one at 58-57.
After Concordia's Craig Heiman converted a three point play to give the Golden Bears a 61-57 lead, Wayne State's Brett Spiker made a basket and on the next possession two free throws to knot the score at 61-61 with 54 seconds to play. Concordia's Thomas Bassett scored on a layup on the next possession to give the Golden Bears a 63-61 lead. Starken missed a three pointer with 14 seconds left and WSC then fouled Concordia three straight times to put the Golden Bears in the one and one. Concordia's Craig Heiman missed the front end with 3.2 seconds left and Brett Spiker got the rebound as WSC called time out to set up the final play. The inbounds pass from Jason Jensen went to Brad Starken, who passed the ball to Elijah Miller and Miller's 25 footer went off the backboard as time expired and Concordia-St. Paul hung on for the 63-61 win over the Wildcats.
Jason Jensen scored a game-high 22 points to lead Wayne State in scoring. The junior guard was 10 of 17 from the field and hit two three pointers. Senior forward Brett Spiker finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season while Brad Starken added 11 points. WSC made 25 of 56 shots from the field for 44 percent. The 'Cats were 6 of 19 behind the three point line and 5 of 7 from the free throw stripe.
Mike Cunningham led Concordia-St. Paul with 20 points followed by Craig Heiman with 12 and Andrew Kuderer 11. The Golden Bears shot 54 percent from the floor, making 25 of 46 shots. CU was 5 of 12 from the three point line and 8 for 13 at the free throw stripe.
WSC won the rebounding battle over Concordia-St. Paul 29-24 thanks to Spiker's 13 boards. The Wildcats had 14 turnovers in the game to 13 for the Golden Bears.
Wayne State will be at home next weekend as the Wildcats host travel partner Augustana College in a 6:00 p.m. contest Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium.
