Wayne State 70 Northern Michigan 63

            Wayne State College used 56 percent shooting and balanced scoring with four players in double figures as the Wildcats topped Northern Michigan 70-63 Friday evening in the opening game of the Southwest Minnesota State Thanksgiving Classic played in Marshall, Minnesota.  Both teams are now 2-3 following the contest.
            The first half saw the two teams exchange nine leads with four ties.  Northern Michigan built a pair of four point leads early.  With Northern Michigan in front 15-11, WSC used a pair of Trae VandeBerg 3-pointers and a layup from Austin Esters to take a four point advantage at 19-15 with 8:23 to go in the first half.
            Northern Michigan came back and regained the lead at 23-21 on a Larry Taylor layup with 6:35 remaining before intermission.
            WSC then tied game at 23 on a Joel Heesch layup and took the lead for good at 25-23 on a pair of Jamie Pearson free throws as the Wildcats finished the first half with a 34-29 lead.
            After Northern Michigan got within one point on a pair of occasions, WSC then reeled off seven consecutive points and took a 45-37 lead on a Jordan Cornelius trey with 15:11 to play.
            NMU pulled within one again with the final time coming at 51-50 with 7:45 to play.
            Wildcat senior center Patrick Kurth then drained a 3-pointer followed by a layup to give Wayne State a 56-50 lead.  Northern Michigan would get as close as three points near the five minute mark, but WSC responded a pair of Cornelius free throws and a Heesch layup to push the lead back to seven and the Wildcats were able to hold back Northern Michigan for a 70-63 win.
            Wayne State made 27 of 48 shots in the game for 56.3 percent.  The Wildcats were 7 of 17 from 3-point range and 9 of 11 at the charity stripe.
            Senior center Patrick Kurth scored 17 points to lead four double digit scorers for Wayne State.  Jordan Cornelius, Trae VandeBerg and Joel Heesch each added 12 points in the win.
            Marcus Hall paced Northern Michigan with 17 points while Terry Nash scored 11.  NMU was 25 of 57 from the field for 43.9 percent, going 6 for 12 beyond the arc and 7 of 10 at the foul line.
            Northern Michigan held a 32-25 edge in rebounding over the Wildcats as Chavis Mattison hauled in nine caroms for NMU while Wayne State's top rebounder was Kurth with six and Heesch at five.
            Both teams had 13 turnovers in the contest.  Heesch had five of Wayne State's seven steals while VandeBerg had a team-high four assists. 
            Wayne State held a 40-28 advantage on points in the paint against Northern Michigan and a 22-9 edge in points off turnvoers.        
            Wayne State will conclude play at the SMSU Thanksgiving Classic in Marshall, Minnesota on Saturday afternoon facing Michigan Tech in a 4 p.m. contest.