Wayne State 79 Northern State 60

            Wayne State College made 15 of 21 shots in the second half (71.4%) as the Wildcats broke open a one-point game at halftime and pulled away for a 79-60 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win over Northern State at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  Both Wayne State and Northern State are now 5-2 overall and 1-2 in league play following Friday night's game.

            Northern State jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but neither team held a lead of more than four points for the rest of the first half that featured seven ties and five lead changes with Wayne State grabbing a 30-29 lead at halftime.

            Wayne State came out firing in the second half and used stellar field goal shooting to pull away for the 79-60 win.  After Northern's Derek Hoellein drained a three pointer to cut the WSC lead to two at 34-32 with 18:09 to play, WSC scored the next seven points to grab a 41-32 advantage with 16:03 remaining.  The Wolves got within six at 41-35, but WSC then used back-to-back three pointers by Brad Starken to take their first double digit lead of the night at 47-35 with 14:34 to go.  The Wildcat extended that lead to 62-41 with 8:42 left following a pair of Amry Shelby free throws and the Wildcats never looked back in posting the 79-60 win.

            Shelby finished the night with a game-high 21 points making 9 of 12 shots from the field and both free throw attempts.  Brad Starken followed with 16 points and Jason Jensen scored 12 for the Wildcats, who shot 26 of 47 from the field for a season-high 55.3 percent, including the sizzling 15 of 21 in the second half for 71 percent.  The 'Cats were 7 of 16 behind the three point line and 20 of 28 at the charity stripe.

            For Northern State, Derek Hoellein accounted for 15 points with Tydan Storrusten adding 10.  The Wolves, who came into the game averaging 86 points per contest, were held to just 39 percent shooting by Wayne State on 18 of 46.  NSU was 5 of 15 from the three point line and 19 of 31 at the free throw line.

            WSC held a slight 31-30 edge in rebounding over Northern State thanks to eight boards by Brad Starken.  Northern State's top rebounder was Collin Pryor with eight.  WSC had just 13 turnovers with 16 assists while Northern State had 15 turnovers.

            Wayne State will be at home again Saturday evening, hosting the University of Mary in a 6:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.