Wayne State 67 Winona State 79

        The Wayne State College men's basketball team trailed from the opening tip against Winona State, falling 79-67 in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball Saturday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. Wayne State drops to 8-14 overall, 5-13 in NSIC play with the loss, while the visitors from Winona improve to 20-5, 15-3 in the conference.
 
            Wayne State found themselves in a hole early, as Winona rifled off the first eight straight points, holding an 8-0 lead before Ryan Rolfzen knocked down his first three pointer of the night at 17:14 to play in the opening frame. A David Andersen free throw and a pair of Rolfzen trifectas pulled WSC to within two, trailing 12-10 at the under 15 media timeout.
 
             Winona responded with a layup and three pointer, again growing their lead to seven with 10:58 to play in the opening half. The two teams traded baskets, including an Adol Aluong layup and Andersen dunk to keep WSC down just five, 21-16, with 8:56 remaining in the first.
 
            The Warriors would stretch their lead to as many as 12 in the first half, capping a 12-7 run with a three pointer from Riley Bambenek to take a 33-21 lead with 3:59 in the first half. A pair of Aluong free throws and three pointers from Gary Ross and Ty Bauschek cut the gap to 37-31 with 1:21 in the first half. Masberg Conrad hit a shot from beyond the arc for Winona, before Andersen put in a layup with 35 ticks in the half that gave the Warriors a 40-33 lead heading into the locker room.
 
            WSC scored first coming out of the halftime break Aluong drained a triple to pull the Wildcats to within four, 40-36. A pair of Winona baskets from Taylor Kellen and Kyle Bauman extended the Warrior lead back to nine, 45-36, with 18:17 remaining in the game.
 
But the Wildcats kept battling. WSC used four points—a pair of free throws and a jumper in the paint—from Jared Bartling and another Andersen layup to cut the gap to 49-44 with 14:50 remaining.
 
            It was again time for the Warriors to go on a run, this time an 11-0 run eating up over three minutes of clock time and forcing the Wildcats to take a timeout with 11:29 to play, trailing 60-44. Back and forth baskets in the ensuing four possessions kept the deficit the same for WSC, still trailing by 16, 70-54, with 5:51 remaining in the game.
 
             The Wildcats would push for one final time, kicked off by a Rolfzen three pointer with 5:07 to play, pulling the Wildcats back to within 14 points at 71-57. Joel Heesch's triple and a jumper by Jared Bartling sandwiched an Isaiah Gray layup to pull WSC within 11, 73-62 at the 3:28 mark. Winona would extend their lead back to 15 points before Kenny Finco's three pointer with eight seconds closed out the evening, WSC falling 79-67.
 
            Wayne State was led on the night by Rolfzen, who finished with 18 points, finishing 4-7 from beyond the arc. Andersen and Bartling also finished in double-digits, with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
 
            Winona led the rebounding battle, edging out WSC 28-24 on the boards. The Warriors finished the night shooting 58.5 percent (31-53) from the floor, also edging the 50.0 percent (25-50) shot by Wayne State on the night.
 
            Kellen Taylor scored a game-high 19 points to pace the Warriors, with Riley Bambenek (15), Isaiah Gray (14) and Kyle Bauman (12) each scoring in double-figures for the visiting Warriors.
 
            Wayne State is at home again next weekend, hosting Northern State Friday at 8 p.m. and MSU Moorhead Saturday in a 6 p.m. matchup at Rice Auditorium.