Wayne State 85 Upper Iowa 81

            Wayne State held off hot shooting Upper Iowa, edging the Peacocks 85-81 Saturday evening in a Northern Sun Conference men's basketball matchup played at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  The host Wildcats improve to 13-3 and 8-2 in the NSIC while UIU slips to 6-10 and 3-7 in league games.
            The game featured 10 ties and nine lead changes with neither team holding a lead of more than eight points all game.
            Upper Iowa took an early 10-5 lead, but WSC rallied with a 11-2 run and built a 16-12 lead on a Jordan Janssen jumper at the 13:19 mark.
            The final lead of the first half for Upper Iowa came at 28-25 with 5:50 to play in the half.
            With the score tied at 30-30, WSC closed the half on a Trevin Joseph 3-pointer taking a 40-34 lead at halftime.
            Early in the second half, WSC used back-to-back baskets from Jordan Janssen to take their biggest lead of the game at 53-45 with 15:02 to play. 
            WSC was still leading 62-55 when the Peacocks scored nine straight points for a 64-62 lead with 8:38 to play.
            Later in the half, the 'Cats pushed the lead back to seven at 81-74 on a pair of Jordan Janssen free throws with 3:53 left.
            UIU forced the 10^th and final tie of the game at 81-81 with 2:10 to play.
            Both teams missed their final four shots from the floor to end the game, but WSC got free throws from Joseph at the 1:22 mark and again with 4.6 seconds to play to finish with the 85-81 win.
            Joseph led Wayne State in scoring with 28 points with Kendall Jacks, Vance Janssen and Jordan Janssen each adding 16.  With his 16 points, Jacks moved into ninth place on the all-time scoring list at WSC with 1,377 points.
            WSC finished the game making 30 of 64 shots for 46.9 percent.  The "Cats were 11 for 20 behind the arc and a perfect 14 of 14 at the free throw line.
            Upper Iowa had the game's top scorer in Munachiso Okonkwo, who scored 31 points on 14 of 19 shooting from the field.  Jareese Williams added 16 points with Kyle Haber scoring 13.
            The Peacocks shot 52.5 percent from the field making 31 of 59 shots.  UIU was 9 for 24 from the 3-point line and 10 for 14 at the charity stripe.
            WSC won the rebounding battle 36-29 thanks to six boards each from Nick Ferrarini and Jordan Janssen.
            Vance Janssen handed out six assists while Jordan Janssen had three steals.
            The Wildcats are on the road next weekend, playing at MSU Moorhead Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. and Northern Saturday at 6 p.m.