Wayne State 73 Sioux Falls 50

            Freshman guard Kendall Jacks led four double digit scorers with 13 points as Wayne State College rolled to a 73-50 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win over the University of Sioux Falls Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  The host Wildcats improve to 6-19 overall and 3-16 in the NSIC while USF falls to 8-17 and 5-14 in league play.
            The first half was close until the Wildcats used a big scoring run in the final five minutes to take a 37-20 halftime lead.
            With the score tied at 8, WSC scored nine of the next 11 points over a span of three minutes to take a 17-10 lead at the 10:36 mark following a Jordan Cornelius layup.
            WSC was still holding a 19-12 lead with 8:13 to play in the half when USF made a run to get within three at 21-18 with 4:56 to go in the half following a Mack Johnson layup.
            But WSC closed the half strong with a 16-2 run that included 14 straight Wildcat points as Wayne State took a commanding 37-20 lead into the locker room at halftime.  The Wildcats held USF to just 25 percent shooting in the first half on 7 of 28 and forced 12 Cougar turnovers.
            Wayne State maintained a double digit lead the entire second half.  Sioux Falls got as close as 12 points at 47-35 with 13:02 to play, but WSC stopped the Cougar momentum by scoring the next nine points to take a 56-35 lead with 8:40 to play and the Wildcats went on to the 73-50 win.
            Jacks led a balanced Wildcat attack with 13 points followed by Austin Esters and Jordan Cornelius with 12 apiece and Trae VandeBerg 11.
            The Wildcats shot 43.1 percent from the field making 28 of 65.  WSC was 4 of 16 from 3-point range and 13 of 23 at the charity stripe.
            Zach Wessels led Sioux Falls in scoring with nine points followed by Bryan Kielpinski with eight.
            USF was 16 of 48 shooting for 33.3 percent, going 3 of 11 behind the arc and 15 of 25 at the foul stripe.
            Wayne State held a slim 40-39 edge in rebounding over Sioux Falls.  Joel Heesch grabbed a career-high nine rebounds for the Wildcats while Tom Aase and Kielpinski each grabbed six boards for the Cougars.
            WSC had just 13 turnovers in the game compared to 23 for Sioux Falls.  Heesch was credited with five of the Wildcats' 14 assists while Esters and Heesch each had three steals.
            The Wildcats will play their final home game of the season Saturday, hosting Southwest Minnesota State in a 6 p.m. NSIC contest at Rice Auditorium.