Wayne State 65 Minnesota Crookston 51

            Seniors Jared Bartling and Ryan Rolfzen each scored 15 points to fuel a second half rally as Wayne State outscored Minnesota Crookston 37-22 in the second half to post a 65-51 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win over the Golden Eagles at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  It was the third straight win for Wayne State, now 7-6 overall and 4-5 in the NSIC, while Minnesota Crookston drops to 4-9 and 1-8 in league play.
            Minnesota Crookston held the lead for most of the first half that featured nine lead changes and two ties.  UMC built a pair of five point leads at 13-8 and 20-15.  The Wildcats used back-to-back 3's by Ryan Rolfzen to take a 21-20 lead with 8:08 to go before halftime, but Minnesota Crookston got nine straight points from senior forward Brandon Burns to finish the half as the Golden Eagles held a 29-28 lead over the Wildcats at intermission.
            The second half was tightly contested until the Wildcats held UMC to just two points in the final 5:18 to pull away for the win.
            UMC held the lead until senior guard Adol Aluong scored back-to-back baskets to even the score at 43-43 with 11:31 to go.  Minnesota Crookston took their final lead on a Brandon Burns jumper with 10:48 to play at 45-43.  A Ryan Rolfzen layup evened the score and WSC took the lead for good at 47-45 on a Joel Heesch layup with 9:52 to play.
            Minnesota Crookston trailed by five at 54-49 with 5:18 to play, then WSC finished the game on an 11-2 run for the win.  Jared Bartling's layup with 5:00 left was Wayne State's final basket of the game, putting the 'Cats ahead 56-49.  The remainder of the Wildcat points came from the foul line as WSC went 9 for 10 at the foul line to seal the win.
            Bartling and Rolfzen led WSC with 15 points each.  Bartling was 5 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 at the free throw line while Rolfzen made 6 of 10 shots, including 3 for 6 from the 3-point line.  Adol Aluong and Damjan Sredanovic each contributed nine points in the win.
            Wayne State shot 55 percent in the second half (11 of 20) and ended the game making 22 of 47 shots for 46.8 percent.  The 'Cats were 4 for 10 from the 3-point line and 17 of 23 at the foul stripe.
            Brandon Burns paced Minnesota Crookston with a game-high 21 points followed by Tyler West with nine.  The Golden Eagles made 22 of 57 shots for 38.6 percent, going 6 of 22 from behind the arc and just 1 of 3 at the foul line.
            Wayne State outrebounded Minnesota Crookston 35-29.  Ty Bauschek, Aluong and Sredanovic each grabbed five rebounds for the Wildcats while Tyler West had nine boards to lead Minnesota Crookston.
            Both teams had just nine turnovers in the game.  Bauschek and Sredanovic each had four assists for the Wildcats while Bartling had Wayne State's lone block in the game.  
            Wayne State will be at home again Saturday evening entertaining Bemidji State in a 6 p.m. contest at Rice Auditorium.