Box Score Southwest Minnesota State 82 Wayne State 73

            Wayne State College trimmed a 25-point deficit midway through the second half down to six with just over one minute to play before the Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs tamed the Wildcats with an 82-73 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win at Rice Auditorium in Wayne Saturday evening.  SMSU is now 8-4 on the year and 4-3 in league play while WSC drops to 3-9 and 1-6 in the NSIC.
            The game was tight early with four ties and seven lead changes, but SMSU used strong field goal shooting to build a 40-31 lead at intermission.
            SMSU built a pair of four point leads early.  Trailing 13-9, WSC used a Joel Heesch 3-pointer and a three point play from Brian Goodwin to take their biggest lead of the night at 15-13 with 10:38 to play in the half. 
            Wayne State's final lead came at 21-20 with 7:37 to play in the half on a Goodwin 3-pointer.  Southwest Minnesota State then held the Wildcats without a basket for the next 6:11, building a 37-22 lead before WSC ended the drought without a basket on another Goodwin trey to make the score 38-27.  The Mustangs finished the first half with a 40-31 lead.
            The Mustangs began the second half with a 12-1 surge in the first four minutes, taking a 52-32 lead. 
            SMSU pushed the lead to 25 at 67-42 with 10:52 remaining when the Wildcats mounted a comeback thanks to the play of sophomore Matt Thomas.
            The guard from Elkhorn South scored 15 of Wayne State's next 21 points in a span of 8:15 and his 3-pointer with 2:37 to play got the Wildcats within seven at 70-63. 
            Moments later, sophomore forward Jordan Cornelius canned a 3-pointer from the right corner to get the Wildcats within six at 74-68 at the 1:07 mark.  But the Mustangs sealed the game making 8 of 12 free throws in the final 59 seconds to give the Mustangs the 82-73 win.
            Thomas led all scorers in the game with 30 points, a career-high.  He was 10 of 21 from the field and a perfect 7 for 7 at the free throw line.  It was his fourth game this season with 25 or more points.  Sophomore guard Brian Goodwin also reached double digits for the Wildcats with 13 points.
            Wayne State connected on 25 of 59 shots from the field for 42.4 percent, going 10 of 28 from the 3-point line and 13 for 16 at the free throw stripe.
            All 10 players that saw action for SMSU scored in the game with five reaching double figures.  Joey Bartlett produced 14 points followed by Taylor  Schafer with 11.  Shaun Condon, Carter Kirk and Turner Moen each accounted for 10 points.
            The Mustangs made 28 of 55 shots in the contest for 50.9 percent, going 5 of 12 behind the arc and 21 for 30 at the free throw line.
            SMSU won the rebounding battle over the Wildcats 38-30 thanks to eight boards from Mitch Weg.  Jordan Cornelius led WSC on the boards with seven.
            Southwest Minnesota State held a 32-20 advantage on points in the paint and 36-26 edge in bench scoring.  WSC was charged with 11 turnovers, one more than the Mustangs. 
            Vance Janssen, Thomas, Cornelius and Joel Heesch each had three assists for the Wildcats.
            Wayne State will be at home again Sunday afternoon hosting the University of Sioux Falls in a 3 p.m. contest.