Box Score Wayne State 79 Minnesota Duluth 77

            Sophomore guard Vance Janssen drove the length of the court with 4.3 seconds left and hit the game-winning lay-in as time expired to give Wayne State College a come-from-behind 79-77 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win Saturday evening at Minnesota Duluth.  The Wildcats move to 7-15 and 5-11 in the NSIC while UMD drops to 4-18 and 3-13 in league games.
            With the exception of two ties (3-3 and 39-93), Wayne State held the lead the entire first half.
            The Wildcats built early leads of 11-5 and 18-11, but both times UMD would rally.  The Bulldogs closed within one at 20-19, but WSC scored the next seven points and took a 27-19 lead on a Luke TerHark 3-pointer for its biggest lead of the first half.
            WSC led 38-32 late in the first half, but the Bulldogs stormed back again and evened the score at 39-39 before Austin Esters closed the half with a layup to put Wayne State in front 41-39 at intermission.
            UMD took their first lead of the game on the opening possession of the second half on a Kyle Schalow 3-pointer for a 42-41 Bulldog advantage.
            From there, the game was a back and forth contest featuring six ties and six lead changes until Janssen's heroics in the final 4.3 seconds.
            WSC built a six-point lead at 59-53 with 12:10 to go on a Kendall Jacks three-point play.  UMD scored eight of the next 10 points and evened the score at 61-61 with 9:20 remaining.
            With the game tied at 66-66 with 6:13 to play, UMD scored the next six points and held a 72-66 advantage with 2:54 left.  WSC then scored seven straight – Jacks layup, Matt Thomas 3-pointer and Jacks layup – to regain the lead at 73-72 at the 1:40 mark.
            After UMD made one free throw to knot the score at 73-73, a Janssen 3-point play put WSC back up 76-73 with 1:09 to play.
            UMD cut the deficit to 76-75 on a Cody Tomlinson layup with 38 seconds left.  On the next possession, Esters was fouled and made one of two free throws with 19.4 remaining to give WSC a 77-75 lead.
            The Bulldogs then tied the game at 77 on a Jake Wilson basket with 4.3 to play.  Following a timeout, on the inbounds Janssen took the pass in his own back court around the free throw line and drove the length of the court in 4.3 seconds as his running lay-in rolled off his fingers with one or two tenths of a second remaining to give WSC the thrilling 79-77 victory.
            Wayne State ended the game making 27 of 54 shots for 50 percent, including 7 for 17 from 3-point range.  The 'Cats were 18 of 23 (78.3%) at the free throw line.
            Kendall Jacks led WSC in scoring with 18 points, his 14^th straight game in double figures.  Janssen finished with 15 followed by Esters with 14 and Brian Goodwin 11.
            Minnesota Duluth was 28 of 55 shooting for 50.9 percent.  The Bulldogs drained 11 of 24 3-point shots (45.8%) but were just 10 for 19 (52.6%) at the foul stripe.
UMD had five players in double figures, led by Logan Rohrscheib and Kyle Schalow with 13 points apiece.  Tomlinson finished with 12, Wilson 11 and Luke Harris 10.
WSC was out-rebounded in the contest 34-29.  Charles Benson grabbed 10 boards for the Bulldogs while Janssen and Goodwin each had five for the Wildcats.
            Wayne State had just eight turnovers compared to 12 on UMD, resulting in a 15-7 WSC advantage in points off turnovers.  Janssen had four of Wayne State's 13 assists and two steals in the win.
            The Wildcats will be at home next weekend, hosting Bemidji State Friday evening at 8 p.m. and Minnesota Crookston Saturday in a 6 p.m. contest.