Winona State 82 Wayne State 63

            Winona State outscored Wayne State 36-16 in the final 12 minutes as the Warriors pulled away for an 82-63 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win Friday evening over the Wildcats at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota.  The host Warriors improve to 13-12 and 10-11 in the NSIC while WSC falls to 7-20 and 4-17.
            The game was close early, but Winona State used a scoring run midway through the first half to build a 31-20 lead with 6:44 to play in the first half while building a 41-30 lead at intermission.
            Wayne State came out strong in the second half and erased the double-digit deficit, using a 16-4 scoring surge to open the half to take a 46-45 lead on a Kendall Jacks jumper with 14:23 to play.
            Freshman Jordan Cornelius made one of two free throws moments later to give WSC their last lead of the night at 47-45 with 13:02 to play.  Winona State's Conrad Masberg made a pair of free throws and a layup to put the Warriors ahead for good at 49-47. 
            WSC was still within four at 53-49 with 10:03 to play before the Warriors pulled away for a lopsided 82-63 win.
            Joel Heesch and Patrick Kurth led Wayne State in scoring with 14 points each followed by Jordan Cornelius with 11.
            Wayne State was 26 of 59 shooting for 44.1 percent, including 3 of 15 from 3-point range, and 8 of 13 at the foul line.
            Isaiah Gray scored a game-high 20 points to lead Winona State.  Kyle Bauman (14), Tim Wagner (13), Mohamed Ali Ben Ammar (12) and Conrad Masberg (11) also hit double figures for the Warriors.
            Winona State shot 59.6 percent for the game making 31 of 52 shots.  The Warriors were 2 of 6 from the 3-point line and 18 of 22 at the foul stripe.
            The Warriors had a 50-38 advantage on points in the paint and 18-13 edge in points off turnovers.
            Winona State out-rebounded WSC 33-26 thanks to nine boards from Mark Blacklock.  Patrick Kurth led WSC on the glass with six caroms.
            WSC had one more turnover than Winona State 15-14.  Joel Heesch had five assists for WSC while Gray handed out eight to lead Winona State.
            Wayne State will visit Upper Iowa Saturday at 6 p.m. in the NSIC regular season finale for the Wildcats.