MSU Moorhead 82 Wayne State 71

            MSU Moorhead built a 12-point lead in the opening five minutes and never trailed as the visiting Dragons downed Wayne State College 82-71 in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball Friday evening at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  WSC drops to 6-14 and 3-8 in the NSIC while MSU Moorhead improves to 10-7 and 6-5 in the league.
            The visiting Dragons rode the red-hot start by sophomore Gavin Baumgartner, who scored 20 points in the opening 10:15 of the contest. 
            MSU Moorhead took an 18-8 lead just 4:27 into the contest and still held a 26-15 lead with 11:28 to play in the half.
            WSC battled back and forged a 28-28 tie following a jumper from Al'Tavius Jackson. 
            But it didn't take long for the Dragons to push the advantage back to double digits as MSUM took a 41-31 lead on a Joe Sevlie basket with 4:11 to play in the half and closed the first half with a 48-39 lead.
            The Dragons held the lead the entire second half, withstanding a couple of Wildcat runs.
            MSU Moorhead took their first double digit lead of the second half at 58-47 at the 14:02 mark.
            WSC then scored the next nine points and closed to within two at 58-56 on a Henry Penner 3-pointer.
            After MSU Moorhead pushed the lead back to seven, the 'Cats could only get as close as three as a Jordan Janssen basket pulled WSC within 65-62 with 5:58 to play.
            Any Wildcat comeback was stopped by strong free throw shooting from MSU Moorhead late as the Dragons went 8-8 in the final 1:30 of the contest and ended with a double digit victory of 82-71.
            Jordan Janssen paced Wayne State with 21 points on 10 of 11 shooting from the field.  Also reaching double figures for Wayne State were Nate Mohr (12), Nick Ferrarini (11) and Nate Thayer (10).
            WSC made 29 of 61 shots for 47.5 percent, including 4 for 12 behind the arc.  The Wildcats were 9 of 12 at the line.
            MSU Moorhead was led by Baumgartner's 24 points with Jack Rusch adding 20 and Johnny Beeninga scoring 10.
            The Dragons shot 43 percent from the field making 25 of 58 shots, including 6 for 20 from 3-point range.  The Dragons were 26-34 at the charity stripe.
            WSC won the rebounding battle 38-35 thanks to a career-best 13 caroms from Ben Dentlinger. 
            The Wildcats were guilty of 17 turnovers compared to just seven on MSU Moorhead, resulting in a 20-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
            The Wildcats will be at home again Saturday hosting Northern State at 5:30 p.m.