Wayne State 83 MSU Moorhead 65
Senior forward Brad Starken scored a career-high 27 points to power Wayne State College in a 83-65 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win Saturday evening over MSU Moorhead on Senior Night at Rice Auditorium in Wayne, Nebraska. It was the 15th straight win for the Wildcats over the Dragons in men's basketball dating back to the 2002-03 season, giving Wayne State a 13-13 overall record to go with 9-13 in league play while MSU Moorhead is now 15-11 on the season and 12-10 in the NSIC.
With the exception of a 2-2 tie, Wayne State held the lead for the entire game. The Wildcats jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first four minutes of the game and were never challenged by the Dragons. WSC held a 28-13 lead at the midway point of the first half and held several 18 point leads in the first half finishing with a 41-23 halftime advantage.
The second half saw Wayne State maintain their double digit lead with the night's biggest lead coming at 21 on two occasions. The closest MSU Moorhead was to WSC in the second half was 14 points as the Wildcats continued their mastery over MSU Moorhead in men's basketball with a convincing 83-65 win.
Starken finished with his career-high 27 points in his final game at Rice Auditorium, going 8 of 14 from the floor and 6 of 11 from three point range. He was also 5 of 6 at the charity stripe. Jason Jensen and Amry Shelby each added 15 points in the win for Wayne State. The Wildcats finished the game shooting 52.6 percent from the field, making 30 of 57 shots. WSC was 11 of 24 behind the three point line and 12 of 17 at the free throw stripe.
Sophomore forward Alex Novak led MSU Moorhead with 12 points and 12 rebounds while Tarell Clark also scored 12 points. Eric Olson also reached double digits for the Dragons with 11 points. MSU Moorhead shot 28 of 64 from the field for 43.8 percent and connected on just 4 of 17 three pointers while making 5 of 9 free throws.
MSU Moorhead did outrebound WSC 36-31 thanks to Novak's 12 rebounds while Wayne State's top rebounder was Ben Tasa with seven. WSC had 19 assists and just six turnovers in the game compared to MSU Moorhead's 10 turnovers and 12 assists.
Wayne State will advance to next week's NSIC Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament if Southwest Minnesota State loses to Minnesota State Saturday evening. The Wildcats would play a first round game on the road Wednesday evening at Minnesota State if the Mavericks win at Southwest Minnesota State Saturday evening.
