Sioux Falls 77 Wayne State 71

            Wayne State rallied from a 16-point deficit with just over 12 minutes remaining and tied the score at 71-71 with under two minutes to play, but host Sioux Falls made plays down the stretch to fend off the Wildcat rally and registered a 77-71 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball victory over Wayne State Friday evening at Stewart Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  The host Cougars improved to 9-4 and 4-3 in league play with WSC dropping to 10-3 overall and 5-2 in the NSIC.
            The Wildcats opened the game making 3 of their first 6 shots and held an 8-6 lead at the 15:07 mark.  That would be the final lead of the night for WSC as the 'Cats went ice cold from the field for the next 10 minutes.
            WSC made just 1 of their next 16 shots and trailed 29-14 with 5:44 to play in the first half before the 'Cats finished the half strong to cut the deficit to five at intermission.
            Wayne State closed the half making 9 of 12 shots and used a Trevin Joseph 3-pointer to head into the locker room trailing 38-33 at the break.
            Sioux Falls wasted little time regaining momentum to start the second half, scoring the first nine points of the half to push the lead back to double digits at 47-33 before Trevin Joseph ended the scoring surge for the Cougars with a layup at the 16:43 mark.
            Wayne State still trailed 58-42 with 12:55 remaining and were down 71-60 with just under five minutes to play when the 'Cats stormed back.
            An 11-0 run by WSC knotted the score at 71-71 with 1:45 to play.  A Kendall Jacks layup followed by 3-pointers from Jacks and Nick Ferrarini and a Vance Janssen jumper evened the score with 1:45 left.
            But WSC closed the game with a turnover, followed by three missed shots which resulted in fouling Sioux Falls and the Cougars made free throws at the end to seal the 77-71 victory.
            Joseph paced Wayne State in scoring with a career-high 35 points, draining 13 of 20 shots from the field and 8 of 11 behind the arc.  The eight 3-pointers were the most by a Wildcat player since Ryan Rolfzen sank eight 3-pointers vs. Crown College on November 19, 2013. 
            Kendall Jacks also had a big night for WSC with 25 points, going 11 for 21 from the field.
            WSC shot 28 of 64 for the game for 43.8 percent.  The Wildcats, who entered the game ranked 16^th in the league in 3-point field goal percentage, tied a season-high with 11 treys on 22 attempts for 50 percent while going just 4 of 8 at the free throw stripe.
            Drew Guebert led Sioux Falls with 23 points followed by Trevon Evans with 16.
            The Cougars shot 45.3 percent from the field making 29 of 64 shots.  USF was 9 for 17 behind the 3-point line and made 10 of 15 free throws.
            Sioux Falls held a commanding 48-25 advantage in rebounding over WSC thanks to 10 boards each from Guebert and Austin Slater.  Vance Janssen led WSC on the glass with five.
            Joseph added five steals in the game while Nick Ferrarini had four assists. 
            WSC held a 22-9 edge in points off turnovers thanks to creating 16 turnovers on the Cougars to just seven on the Wildcats.
            Wayne State will be in action again Saturday evening playing at Southwest Minnesota State in a 6 p.m. contest.