Sioux Falls 80 Wayne State 77

            Sioux Falls rallied from a 75-70 deficit with one minute to play and edged Wayne State College 80-77 in NSIC men's basketball played at the Stewart Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The host Cougars move to 7-7 and 4-4 in the NSIC while WSC drops to 3-11 and remains winless in league play at 0-8.
            The Wildcats took an early 11-5 lead on the Cougars and still held a five point lead at 24-19 with 8:14 to go in the first half until the host Cougars, who shot 69 percent in the first half on 16 of 23, stormed back to take the lead at halftime 42-37. 
            Sioux Falls pushed the lead to nine to start the second half, leading 49-40 with 17:02 to play.  The Cougars still led 59-50 at the 11:58 mark when Wayne State mounted a comeback.
            A Jamie Pearson 3-pointer tied the score at 63 with 5:50 remaining and the Wildcats would build a six point lead with 1:44 remaining before the Cougars used a scoring barrage late from Mack Johnson and Charles Ward to steal victory from the Wildcats.
            With WSC leading 73-67, Johnson canned back-to-back treys and cut the Wildcat lead to 75-73.  Following a WSC turnover, Ward hit two free throws to even the score at 75 with 42 seconds remaining.
            After Jordan Cornelius hit two free throws with 31 seconds left to put the 'Cats back up 77-75, Johnson hit another 3 on the next possession to give the Cougars a 78-77 lead with 19 seconds left.
            Freshman Kendall Jacks had a shot blocked by Sioux Falls with Ward grabbing the rebound and getting fouled with nine seconds left.  Ward made both charity tosses to give the Cougars a 80-77 lead.
            WSC attempted to tie the game but a Pearson 3-pointer was off the mark and Sioux Falls escaped with the win.
            Senior center Patrick Kurth poured in a career-high 29 points to lead Wayne State in scoring.  The Sioux City North graduate was 11 of 15 from the field and 7 for 8 at the foul line.  Freshman Trae VandeBerg chipped in 15 points with Jordan Cornelius scoring 12.
            Wayne State made 27 of 59 shots from the field for 45.8 percent, but was just 3 of 19 from the 3-point line.  The 'Cats were 20 for 25 at the foul stripe.
            Charles Ward led Sioux Falls in scoring with 20 points followed by Mack Johnson with 19.  Bryan Kielpinski and Jordan Stotts also reached double figures with 14 and 12 points respectively.
            The Cougars shot 57.8 percent from the field making 26 of 45 shots.  USF was 7 for 11 behind the 3-point line and 21 for 31 at the free throw line.
            Wayne State out-rebounded Sioux Falls 29-25 thanks to seven boards from Kurth while Kebu Johnson led the Cougars on the glass with five rebounds.
            USF had 11 turnovers to nine for Wayne State.  Freshman Austin Esters handed out four assists for WSC and had two of Wayne State's four steals.
            The Wildcats will be at home next weekend, hosting #16 Minnesota State Friday at 8 p.m. and Concordia-St. Paul Saturday in a 6 p.m. contest at Rice Auditorium.