Minnesota State 90 Wayne State 79

            Minnesota State opened the game with a 33-12 lead in the opening 11 minutes and remained the lone unbeaten road team in NSIC play (6-0) as the Mavericks disposed of Wayne State College 90-79 Saturday evening in a Northern Sun Conference men's basketball game played at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  MSU and WSC are now part of a three-way tie for first place in the NSIC South Division with Augustana at 9-4 in league play.  WSC is now 14-5 overall while MSU is 13-6 following the win.
            The Mavericks got off to a hot start offensively and seemingly never turned back. Tied 8-8, Minnesota State went on a 25-4 run to create a gap between the two teams. The Wildcats cut the lead to as little as 10, but were unable to keep the streaking Mavs off the board.
            Besides a hot start from the Wildcats from deep (6-12, 50%), the Wildcats struggled from the field (10-30, 33.3%) and the line (4-8, 50%). Vance Janssen led the Wildcats in scoring with nine while jacks contributed seven points and three rebounds. MSU outrebounded the Wildcats 22-14, shooting 56.7% (17-30) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
            Minnesota State increased their lead to 20 going into the first media timeout of the second half. The Mavs only had four missed shots in the opening four minutes and offensive rebounds on half of those possessions.
            WSC got as close as 10 late in the first half at 40-30 before the Mavericks closed the half with the final four points for a 44-30 lead.
            Minnesota State pushed the lead back to 21 several times in the second half with the final one coming at 73-52 with 7:38 remaining.
            The Wildcats trimmed the deficit to single digits in the final two minutes, getting as close as seven at 86-79, before Minnesota State finished with the 90-79 win.
            Kendall Jacks and Trevin Joseph each scored 17 points to lead Wayne State.  Jordan Janssen produced his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds while Vance Janssen added 14 points.
            WSC made 29 of 70 shots for 41.4 percent, including 10 of 27 from the 3-point line.  The 'Cats were just 11 of 21 at the foul line.
            Minnesota State shot 54.4 percent from the field on 31 of 57 shots, including 9 for 18 behind the arc.  The Mavericks were 19 for 32 at the charity stripe.
            Carlos Anderson had 16 points to lead five Mavericks in double figures.  Juwan McCloud and Kevin Krieger each scored 15 followed by Tre Baumgardner with 11 and Cameron Kirksey 10.
            MSU held a 41-37 edge in rebounding thanks to 10 boards each from Jamal Nixon and Krieger while Jordan Janssen corralled a game-high 13 boards for WSC.
            Luke TerHark and Vance Janssen each had three assists for WSC while Jordan Janssen had three steals.            
            Wayne State will be in action again Sunday afternoon facing Concordia-St. Paul in an NSIC South Division contest starting at 3:30 p.m.