#6 MSU Moorhead 86 Wayne State 65

            #6 MSU Moorhead used 58 percent shooting (31 of 53) to take down Wayne State College 86-65 in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  The visiting Dragons move to 25-1 overall and 16-1 in the NSIC while WSC falls to 5-18 and 2-15 in league play.
            The game was close until late in the first half when the Dragons slowly pulled away for a double digit lead at halftime thanks to 69 percent shooting in the first half (16 of 23). 
            The two teams exchanged two ties and five lead changes in the first half. MSU Moorhead held a 13-9 lead at the 14:37 mark, but back-to-back baskets from Joel Heesch and a 3-point play by Kendall Jacks gave the Wildcats a 16-13 lead with 12:10 to play.
            That would be the last lead for the Wildcats.  With the score tied at 20-20, the Dragons scored eight straight points to take a 28-20 lead and took their first double digit lead at 38-26 with 3:00 to go in the half before taking a 42-30 lead at intermission.
            MSU Moorhead opened the second half with a 14-3 run in the first four minutes to take control, leading 56-33 with 16:00 to play in the game.
            After the Dragons took a 32 point lead at 69-37 at the 12:09 mark, WSC never gave up and cut the Dragon advantage in half as freshman Kendall Jacks canned a trio of 3-pointers and a free throw for 10 straight points in a span of 1:31, getting WSC within 15 at 73-58 with 6:52 to play. 
            MSU Moorhead then scored the next six points to end any possible comeback by the Wildcats with the final score giving the Dragons the 86-65 win.
            Jacks led Wayne State in scoring with a career-high 21 points, going 6 of 9 from the field, 4 for 5 from the 3-point line and 5 of 7 at the foul stripe.  Patrick Kurth scored 11 points with Trae VandeBerg and Joel Heesch each adding 10 points for the Wildcats.
            WSC was 22 of 64 from the field for 34.4 percent, including 5 of 18 behind the arc and 16 for 22 at the foul line.
            MSU Moorhead was led in scoring by Jordan Riewer with 18 points.  Urbane Bingham and Prescott Williams also reached double digits for the Dragons with 11 and 10 points respectively.
            The Dragons shot 58.5 percent from the field, making 31 of 53 shots.  MSUM was 3 of 10 from the 3-point line and 21 for 27 at the charity stripe.
            MSU Moorhead won the rebounding battle over Wayne State 39-31 thanks to seven rebounds each by Williams and Matt Nelson while the Wildcats were led on the glass by Jordan Cornelius and Kurth with five boards each.
            WSC had just 10 turnovers in the game compared to14 for MSU Moorhead.  The Dragons held a 45-31 advantage on points in the paint and 32-21 in bench points over the Wildcats.  
            Wayne State will be at home again Saturday, hosting Northern State in a 6 p.m. NSIC contest at Rice Auditorium.