Wayne State 102 Winona State 97 (3 OT)

            Wayne State won for the first time away from Rice Auditorium this season (0-9) as the Wildcats outlasted Winona State 102-97 in triple overtime in a Northern Sun Conference men's basketball game Friday evening at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota.  WSC is now 6-12 on the year and 3-6 in the NSIC South Division while host Winona State drops to 7-8 and 4-5 in the NSIC.  The game was the first triple overtime contest for the Wildcats since the 2003-04 season when WSC won 118-111 at Minnesota Crookston on January 17, 2004. 
            The triple overtime thriller featured 14 ties and 11 lead changes with late heroic baskets by both teams sending the game into extra sessions.
            Winona State held an eight point lead in the first half at 23-15 with Wayne State coming back to cut the deficit to one at intermission 33-32.
            The host Warriors held the lead for most of the second half and was in front 63-57 with 5:22 to play.
            WSC rallied and took a 68-65 lead on a Ben Dentlinger 3-pointer with 2:35 remaining.
            Winona State forced the first overtime when guard Devin Whitelow recorded a putback off a missed 3-pointer from Kevion Taylor as time expired sending the game into overtime at 70-70.
            The Wildcats appeared to be in control of the first extra session, leading by seven at 81-74 with just 33 seconds left.
            However Winona State made a pair of 3-pointers in the final 3.2 seconds of the first overtime and the second trey from Caleb Wagner with 0.5 to play sent the game into a second overtime at 83-83.
            Wagner's 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in the second overtime gave Winona State a 91-89 advantage.
            Wayne State's Nick Ferrarini was short on a 3-pointer, but Henry Penner made a basket off the miss with 3.6 on the clock sending the game to a third extra session knotted at 91-91.
            The Wildcats never trailed in the third overtime, building a six point lead at 98-92 with 2:55 to go and the Wildcats made four free throws late to hang on for the wild 102-97 win in triple overtime.
            Wayne State made 37 of 77 shots for 48.1 percent, going 7 for 20 behind the arc and 21-25 (84%) at the free throw line.
            Sophomore Nick Ferrarini led four Wildcats in double figures with a career-best 29 points.  Sophomore center Jordan Janssen followed with 23 and sophomore guard Nate Mohr added 20.  Junior forward Ben Dentlinger contributed a career-high 18 points in the win.
            Winona State's top scorer was Kevion Taylor with 28 points to go with 10 rebounds.  Andrea Lo Biondo also had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds while Caleb Wagner also scored 23 points.
            The Warriors were 35-77 from the field for 45.5 percent, including 10-36 from the 3-point line.  Winona State was just 17-30 (56.7%) at the free throw line.
            Both teams had 42 rebounds in the game.  Janssen had nine caroms for WSC followed by Dentlinger with eight. 
            Janssen handed out a career-best seven assists and had two blocks for WSC.
            The Wildcats will be in action again Saturday afternoon visiting Upper Iowa at 5:30 p.m.