Box Score Southwest Minnesota State 85 Wayne State 82

            Wayne State nearly rallied from a 12-point second half deficit but fell just short in dropping an 85-82 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball contest Friday evening at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall, Minnesota.  The host Mustangs move to 20-4 and 15-4 in the NSIC with the win while WSC falls to 8-17 and 6-13 in league play.
            The Wildcats led early 4-0 and 7-6, but SMSU scored seven straight points to take the lead for good at 13-7.  WSC got as close as one in the first half at 19-18 and the Wildcats were only down three at 29-26 with 5:10 left before halftime, but the Mustangs closed the first half strong and built a nine-point lead at 37-28 before finishing with a 37-30 lead at intermission.
            SMSU increased the lead to double figures early in the second half and took its biggest lead of the night at 45-33 with 16:55 remaining.
            The Mustangs still led by 10 at 67-57 with 8:37 to go when WSC slowly chipped away at the lead.
            WSC pulled within two at 80-78 with 51 seconds to play following an Austin Esters layup.  The 'Cats had a chance to take the lead on the next possession but a 3-pointer by Vance Janssen just missed and the Mustangs then used a pair of Ryan Bruggeman free throws to go up four a 82-78. 
            The Wildcats got within two points again, but had to foul the Mustangs and SMSU got another pair of Bruggeman free throws to go in front by four.  A layup by Janssen with 1.3 to play made the score 84-82, then Bruggeman canned one of two free throws with 0.8 seconds to play to make the final score 85-82.
            Wayne State shot an even 50 percent in the game making 30 of 60 shots from the floor.  The 'Cats were 5 of 15 behind the arc and 17 of 19 (89.5%) at the charity stripe.
            Kendall Jacks poured in a game-high 25 points to lead WSC in scoring, going 9 of 13 from the floor and 5 of 6 at the stripe.  Janssen added 18 points while junior reserve guard Austin Esters matched a season and career-high with 16 points going 7 for 9 shooting.
            SMSU was 31 of 54 for 57.4 percent, including 5 of 18 from the 3-point line.  The Mustangs were 18 for 25 at the free throw line.
            KJ Davis led a balanced Mustang attack with 18 points.  Bruggeman finished with 17 while Joey Bartlett and Carter Kirk also hit double figures with 15 and 14 respectively.
            The Mustangs held a 31-28 edge in rebounding over WSC.  Jacks grabbed eight rebounds with Esters adding seven caroms.
            Both teams had 12 turnovers in the contest.  Janssen was credited with six of Wayne State's 16 assists in the game.
            Wayne State will visit Sioux Falls Saturday night in a 6 p.m. contest.