Wayne State 111 Minnesota Duluth 104
The Wayne State College men's basketball team outlasted Minnesota Duluth 111-104 in a double overtime thriller Saturday afternoon in Duluth, Minnesota. WSC scored 100 points for the first time since January 17th, 2004 when the Wildcats scored 118 points against Minnesota, Crookston. The win marks the first time in nine matchups the Wildcats have defeated the Bulldogs in Duluth. Amry Shelby led the way for the Wildcats with a career high 42 points, which is tied for third all-time in Wildcats basketball history. The win makes Wayne State 9-4 overall and 5-4 in the NSIC and the loss drops the Bulldogs to 7-5 and 5-3 in the conference.
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the opening five minutes of the first half. The Bulldogs would battle back and take a lead of their own at 11-8 at the 12:55 mark of the first half. The Wildcats came back to take a 13-11 lead after a Ben Tasa layup, but UMD went on a run of their own to take a 16-13 lead halfway through the stanza after a Jake Hottenstine three pointer.
After Minnesota Duluth went on a brief run the Wildcats would cut the Bulldogs lead to as little as two at 21-19, but the Bulldogs would build a lead of 28-22 with four minutes remaining in the first stanza. The Bulldogs continued to put offensive pressure on the Wildcats in the first half and took a 38-25 lead into halftime. Minnesota Duluth shot 57.1 percent from the field going 16 of 28 in the opening stanza. The Wildcats were held scoreless in the final 3:32 of the first half.
The Wildcats opened up the second half on a 7-2 run to cut the Bulldogs lead to 40-32. Minnesota Duluth's Ryan Rasmussen hit three triples halfway through the second half, but the Wildcats would hit three treys of their own to keep the game within 10 points.
A layup Elijah Miller would cut the Bulldogs lead to 51-46. After a Vontrel Seroyer free throw and a Derrell Willams free throw WSC was down 51-47. The Wildcats then added another steal and Brad Starken nailed a three pointer to cut the Bulldogs lead to one at 51-50.
Elijah Miller hit a layup with 10:38 remaining to give the Wildcats their first lead since the 14:47 mark of the first half. Amry Shleby would then add a three pointer to give the Wildcats a 62-58 lead. Shelby would add another trey three minutes later to give the Wildcats a seven point lead at 67-60.
The Wildcats lead would be trimmed to 69-66 with five minutes to play in the second stanza. Rasmussen would tie the game with 3:40 remaining as the Bulldogs leading scorer hit a shot from the top of the key. After a Williams dunk, Starken poured in a layup to give the Wildcats a 74-70 lead. Jake Hottenstine's layup cut the Wildcats lead to two at 74-72 with 2:20 remaining in the second half. UMD would tie the game at 74-74, but Shelby gave Wayne State another two point advantage (76-74) on a reverse layup.
The Bulldogs Rasmussen hit another jumper as the game was once again tied this time at 76-76. After a missed three pointer by Starken, UMD took the ball down the court and Hottenstine hit a layup to give the Bulldogs a 78-76. Wayne State took the ball down the floor in the closing seconds of the second stanza and Shelby hit a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining to send the game to overtime at 78-78.
The teams exchange a pair of jumpers to open up first overtime. The Bulldogs Phil Homere hit a three pointer to give the Bulldogs an 85-82 lead. But Elijah Miller put back a rebound to cut the lead to 85-84. Rasmussen would then hit three to give a 87-84 lead for the Bulldogs. Homere hit two more free throws to give UMD a five point lead with 29 seconds remaining. Seroyer would hit a layup to cut the lead to three and after a steal Starken drained a three pointer to send the game to double overtime tied at 89-89.
Starken gave the Wildcats a 93-92 lead with 3:31 remaining in double overtime. Jason Jensen would then hit a jumper to give the Wildcats a three point lead at 95-92. Shelby would then add a three pointer to give the Wildcats a six point lead at 98-92. The Bulldogs would then Battle back to cut the Wildcats lead to as little as five points, but the Wildcats hit 16 of 17 free throws in the second overtime to take the victory 111-104.
Wayne State shot 50.7 percent from the field (35-69) and 52.2 percent from the three point line (12-23). The Wildcats shot 82.9 percent from the free throw line (29-35). The Wildcats out rebounded the Bulldogs 37-33 on the night.
Wayne State was led by Shelby with a career high 42 points. Shelby went 5 of 6 from the three point line and 12 of 15 from the field. Starken also had a career day with 26 points going 5 of 10 from the three point line and 7 of 8 from the free throw line, he also had a career high nine rebounds. Jensen added 16 points going 5 of 10 from the field.
Minnesota Duluth shot 55.6 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from the three point line. UMD shot 76.5 from the free throw line. Minnesota Duluth was led by Ryan Rasmussen who had a game-high 43 points going 16 of 28 from the field. Jake Hottenstine added 20 points and Dlyan Rodriquez added 17 points.
Wayne State will conclude their NSIC road trip Sunday afternoon with a 4:00 p.m. game at Bemidji State.
