Box Score Wayne State 83 Concordia-St. Paul 71

            Wayne State College used four players scoring in double figures along with 66 percent (16-24) shooting in the second half as the Wildcats topped Concordia-St. Paul 83-71 in a Northern Sun Conference men's basketball game played Friday night at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  The Wildcats match last year's win total (10-19) by improving to 10-7 overall and 5-4 in league play while CSP is now 2-12 and 1-7 in the NSIC.
            The Wildcats never trailed in the contest, taking a 15-4 lead just 4:30 into the contest.  WSC pushed the lead to 18 at 28-10 following a pair of Austin Esters free throws at the 8:34 mark and finished the opening half with a 38-23 lead.
            After WSC took their biggest lead of the game early in the second half at 46-27 (17:10 remaining), Concordia-St. Paul chipped away at the Wildcat lead and got as close as six at 50-44 with 10:59 to play.
            Wayne State responded and increased the lead to 15 points at 63-48 with eight minutes to play.  Concordia-St. Paul crept within nine at 68-59 before WSC pushed the lead back to double digits and led 80-64 with 1:21 remaining before finishing with the 83-71 victory.
            Brian Goodwin led a balanced Wildcat scoring effort with 16 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds.  Vance Janssen and Trevin Joseph both scored 14 points with Austin Esters adding a season-high 12 points. 
            Wayne State 53.6 percent from the field on 30 of 56, including 16 of 24 in the second half for 66.7 percent.  The 'Cats were 7 for 21 from the 3-point line and 16 of 21 at the charity stripe.  It was the eighth game this season that WSC shot 50 percent or better from the field.
            Ahmad Newsome poured in a game-high 20 points for Concordia-St. Paul.  Avan Ward added 16 points with Max Keefe scoring 12.
            Concordia-St. Paul had a tale of two halves shooting the basketball.  After making just 6 of 26 (23%) in the first half, the Golden Bears warmed up to make 18 of 27 (66.7%) in the second half to finish the game 24 of 53 for 45.3 percent.  CSP was 3 of 13 behind the arc and 20 for 24 at the free throw line.
            WSC won the rebounding battle over CSP 35-24 thanks to eight boards from Goodwin.  Bryndan Matthews grabbed six boards for the Golden Bears.
            Kendall Jacks had six of Wayne State's 18 assists while Vance Janssen and Trevin Joseph each had two steals.
Wayne State will be at home again Saturday night hosting Minnesota State at 6 p.m. in Rice Auditorium.