Northern State 78 Wayne State 70
Northern State University pulled away late for a 78-70 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win over Wayne State College Saturday evening in Aberdeen, South Dakota at the Barnett Center. Both teams entered the night tied for eighth place in the league along with Southwest Minnesota State. The host Wolves move to 12-11 on the season and 8-11 in the NSIC while WSC falls to 11-12 overall and 7-12 in league play.
With the exception of three early ties and a 2-0 WSC lead, Northern State led the entire first half. The Wolves built an eight point lead at 23-15 at the 8:56 mark of the first half on a David Lane jumper. Northern State's biggest lead of the first half was at nine points three different times as the Wolves took a 42-35 lead at halftime. Wayne State's Jason Jensen kept the Wildcats in the game in the first half as the senior guard scorched the nets for 20 points in the opening 20:00 of playing time, going 6 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the three point line.
Northern State maintained their lead early in the second half as the Wolves took their first double digit lead at 48-38 and grabbed their biggest lead of the night at 50-38 with 14:06 to play in the game on two free throws by Marty Gregor. Wayne State then made a run at the Wolves, scoring nine straight points to highlight a 17-5 run, as the Wildcats knotted the score at 55-55 on a Derrell Williams with 7:57 to go.
Wayne State tied the score again at 57-57 on a pair of Brad Starken free throws with 7:13 remaining but that's as close as the Wildcats would get. The Wolves pushed the lead back to eight points at 70-62 with 1:48 to play on a David Lane layup and WSC never got closer than five points as Northern State went on to the 78-70 win.
Jason Jensen led the way for Wayne State with a game-high 22 points, including 20 in the first half. Brad Starken accounted for 19 points while Derrell Williams also reached double figures with 10. The Wildcats shot 40.4 percent from the field, making 21 of 52 shots from the field including 10 of 21 behind the three point line. WSC was also 18 of 21 (85.7%) from the free throw line.
David Lane paced Northern State with 20 points and six assists. Tom Parks scored 15 points and DustinTetzlaff added 11. The Wolves made 24 of 51 shots from the field for 47.1 percent and connected on 9 of 20 three point shots. Northern State sank 21 of 24 free throws in the win.
Northern State edged Wayne State in rebounding 31-29 thanks to nine rebounds from Tetzlaff while Wayne State's top rebounder was Brad Starken with seven. Both teams had just eight turnovers.
Wayne State will be on the road again next weekend as the Wildcats visit travel partner Augustana College in a 6:00 p.m. Northern Sun Conference contest at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
