Wayne State 77 University of Mary 75

            Freshman guard Trae VandeBerg scored five points in the final 10 seconds, including the game-winning jumper at the buzzer, to lift Wayne State College in a thrilling 77-75 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win Saturday evening over the University of Mary at McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, North Dakota.  The Wildcats improve to 5-17 overall and 2-14 in the NSIC with the win while dropping Mary to 6-14 and 4-12 in league play.
            The host Marauders led for nearly the entire game (36:16), but their biggest lead of the night was nine points (once in each half).  The Wildcats stayed close and used the sharp-shooting heroics of VandeBerg to win late in the contest.
            The first half featured two ties and nine lead changes between the two clubs.  Mary took an early 15-8 lead at the 14:37 mark of the first half, but the 'Cats battled back and re-gained the lead at 19-18 on a Jordan Holdsworth layup with 9:31 to play in the half.
            The Marauders then surged late in the half, building a 37-28 lead with 1:51 to play in the half before taking a 37-32 lead at intermission.
            After WSC tied the score at 39-39 early in the second half, Mary went on a 13-4 run to take a 52-43 lead with 13:03 to play. 
            The Wildcats responded and got within one at 53-52 on a Joel Heesch layup with 9:20 remaining.  But Mary was able to push the lead back to seven points several times and still held a seven point lead at 74-67 with 50 seconds left following a pair of Chris Mason free throws.
            A Tyler Nagy layup by the Wildcats cut the Marauder advantage to 74-69 with 39 seconds to play.  Following a missed front end of a 1 and 1 by Mary's Jaycob Velasco, Wayne State's Jordan Cornelius drained a 3-pointer to make the score 74-72 with 23 seconds to play.
            WSC then fouled on the inbounds play and Mary's Marquealis Edwards made one of two free throws for a 75-72 Marauder lead.
            VandeBerg sank a trey to even the score at 75 with 10 seconds to play.  Edwards missed a layup for Mary with two seconds left and VandeBerg raced into front court and drained an 18 foot jumper as the buzzer sounded to give the Wildcats the dramatic win.
            Freshman forward Jordan Cornelius scored a career-high 21 points to lead Wayne State in scoring.  VandeBerg, Tyler Nagy and Patrick Kurth each added 13 points for the Wildcats.
            Wayne State was 29 of 65 from the field for 44.6 percent.  The 'Cats were 7 of 22 from the 3-point line and just 12 of 20 (60%) at the charity stripe.
            Mary was led by Jaycob Velasco with a game-high 22 points followed by Germain Decoste with 14 and Marquealis Edwards scoring 13 points.
            The Marauders shot 50.9 percent from the field on 28 of 55, going 4 of 8 behind the arc and 15 for 20 at the charity stripe.
            Wayne State held a slight 37-35 advantage in rebounding over the Marauders thanks to 11 boards from Patrick Kurth.  The Wildcats had 16 offensive rebounds in the contest.
            Cornelius had five of Wayne State's 17 assists in the contest while VandeBerg was credited with five steals.
            WSC had 13 turnovers in the game to 17 on Mary. 
            Wayne State will be at home next weekend, entertaining #7 MSU Moorhead Friday at 8 p.m. and Northern State Saturday at 6 p.m.