Minnesota, Crookston 55 Wayne State 54
The Wayne State College men's basketball team fell to Minnesota, Crookston in heartbreaking fashion 55-54 Saturday evening in Crookston, Minnesota in NSIC men's basketball action. The Wildcats trailed by as much as 11 points in the second half, but managed to get back in the game in the final minutes of the play. Wayne State's Amry Shelby had 13 points all of which came in the second half to lead the Wildcats. Minnesota, Crookston is now 5-4 overall and 1-4 in the NSIC and the Wildcats drop to 7-3 overall and 3-3 in the conference.
The Wildcats got off to a fast start against the Golden Eagles as WSC enjoyed a 7-2 advantage in the opening three minutes of the ball game. The Golden Eagles got back into the game with a Mike Larsen jumper that cut the Cats' lead to 10-9. Wayne State would take a 15-11 lead off a three pointer by senior Brad Starken. The Golden Eagles and Wildcats would battle it out in the closing minutes of the first stanza, but a layup by Trent Graves in the closing seconds of the half gave UMC a 25-23 advantage going into the break.
Both teams struggled in the first half to find rhythm as Wayne State was outrebounded by the Golden Eagles 18-10 in the first half. The Golden Eagles had 11 turnovers in the half with the Wildcats capitalizing for 12 points off of the turnovers in the first stanza.
Minnesota, Crookston added to their lead early in the second half jumping out to a 35-26 lead on a 10-3 run to open up the half. The Golden Eagles expanded their lead to 11 halfway through the second stanza. Wayne State guards Amry Shelby and Jason Jensen scored their first points of the game halfway through the half. The two hit back to back layups to cut the Golden Eagles lead to 41-35.
The Wildcats came to life late in the second half as the Wildcats cut the UMC lead to four off of a Ryan Rudloff layup at the 5:15 mark of the half. After a pair of made free throws by Shelby to cut the lead for UMC to 51-47 the Wildcats forced a turnover by the Golden Eagles, but the Wildcats could not capitalize and remained down by four with three minutes remaining. After a layup by Jacolby Anderson, Starken hit a three pointer to cut the Minnesota, Crookston lead to three at 53-50.
After a made free throw by Eric Dearden the Golden Eagles took a four point lead, but Shelby made a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to two at 54-52 with 1:20 remaining in the second half. Elijah Miller forced turnover that lead to the tying bucket by Shelby with 58 seconds remaining. Dearden was fouled with 22 seconds remaining and made only one free throw to give UMC a 55-54 lead. Shelby drove down the UMC lane with seven seconds remaining, but a jump ball was called and the ball went back to the Golden Eagles. The Wildcats forced a turnover of their own as Miller made another steal that gave Wayne State the ball with 2.2 seconds remaining, but on an in bounce pass UMC forced a turnover and took the game 55-54.
Wayne State shot 39.5 percent (17-43) from the field on the night. WSC shot 42.9 percent (6-14) from the three point line and 73.7 percent (14-19) from the free throw line. Wayne State grabbed only 23 rebounds in the game compared to the Golden Eagles 29.
Minnesota, Crookston shot 51.2 percent (21-41) from the field. UMC shot 75 percent (12-16) from the free throw line and only 14.3 percent (1-7) from the three point line. UMC committed 19 turnovers on the night.
Wayne State was led by Shelby with 13 points on the evening. Starken added 12 points for the Wildcats all of which came from behind the three point line. Ben Tasa added 11 points and a team high eight rebounds, which is tied for a career high for Tasa.
The Golden Eagles were led by Dearden with 14 points on the night. Larry Brown added 12 points for the Golden Eagles to round out players in double figures.
Wayne State will be off until Saturday, January 1st when the Wildcats entertain Concordia-St. Paul in a Northern Sun Conference starting at 6:00 p.m.
