Wayne State 64 MSU Moorhead 50
Wayne State College shot a season-best 59 percent from the field and junior guard Amry Shelby scored 24 points for the second straight night as the Wildcats led from start to finish in a 64-50 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win Saturday evening over MSU Moorhead at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minnesota. It was the fourth straight win for the Wildcats, who clinched the eighth and final spot for next week's NSIC Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament with a 10-16 overall record and 9-13 in the NSIC. MSU Moorhead is now 18-8 and 14-8 in the league play.
The Wildcats never trailed in the contest, jumping out to an early 9-2 lead following a Ryan Rolfzen three pointer with 14:17 to play in the first half. WSC took its first double digit lead at 15-4 on a Adol Aluong layup with 9:55 remaining before halftime. The 'Cats biggest lead in the first half was 18 points at 24-6 with 6:05 to play before finishing the first half with a 31-16 halftime advantage.
WSC continued its' stellar play in the second half and built a 23 point lead at 46-23 on Amry Shelby's three pointer with 11:47 to play. But the host Dragons made a run at the Wildcats, pulling within nine points. A Charlie Chapman three point play with 5:28 to play cut the WSC lead to 50-41 and an Alex Novak dunk made the score 52-43 with 4:55 left. Wayne State's Vontrell Seroyer then scored five straight points on a three pointer and a pair of free throws to push the lead back to 14 points at 57-43 and the Wildcats went on to the 64-50 win.
Amry Shelby led all scorers with a game-high 24 points for the Wildcats, his fourth straight game over 20 points and ninth game this season with over 20 points. Vontrell Seroyer and Adol Aluong also reached double figures for Wayne State with 11 and 10 points respectively.
WSC finished the contest making 25 of 42 shots for 59.5 percent, making 6 of 15 three pointers and 8 of 10 at the free throw stripe.
DJ Hamilton scored 13 points to lead MSU Moorhead with Alex Novak chipping in 10. The Dragons made 17 of 41 shots from the field for 41.5 percent. MSUM was 7 of 20 behind the three point line and 9 for 15 at the free throw stripe.
MSU Moorhead won the rebounding battle over WSC 24-21 as Novak hauled in seven rebounds for MSU Moorhead while Derrell Williams was credited with seven rebounds to lead the Wildcats on the glass. WSC forced MSU Moorhead into 22 turnovers while WSC had 15. Seroyer was credited with four assists to lead WSC to go along with three steals.
Wayne State earns the eighth and final spot for the 2012 NSIC Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament and the Wildcats will face top seed and NSIC regular season champion Bemidji State Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in Bemidji, Minnesota.
