Wayne State 71 Minot State 62

            Wayne State closed the first half with a 10-0 run and carried that momentum into the second half as the Wildcats completed a home weekend sweep with a 71-62 victory over Minot State Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball played at Rice Auditorium.  The Wildcats are now 10-15 and 7-9 in the NSIC South while Minot State drops to 10-12 and 4-12 in league play.
            In a tightly contested first half that featured seven ties and six lead changes, Minot State and Wayne State battled back and forth until a late scoring surge by the Wildcats in the final three minutes of the half changed the tone of the contest.
            Minot State held a 19-16 lead at the 10:59 mark of the first half.  Wayne State used back-to-back 3-pointers from Henry Penner and Nick Ferrarini to take a 22-19 lead.
            Wayne State held a pair of four point leads but the Beavers came back and forged ties at 28-28 and 31-31.
            With the score tied at 31-31 with 2:51 to play in the half, Wayne State used a Ferrarini trey, two free throws from Nate Thayer and Nate Mohr followed by a Mohr 3-pointer at the buzzer giving WSC a 41-31 lead at intermission.
            The Wildcats maintained a double digit lead a majority of the second half.
            The biggest lead for WSC came at 50-35 with 15:48 to play.
            Midway through the second half, Minot State made a charge at the Wildcats and got as close as six at 52-46 with 10:12 remaining, but the Wildcats scored eight straight points for a 60-46 lead following a Ben Dentlinger dunk with 4:41 remaining.
            Wayne State ended the game making 25 of 51 shots for 49 percent, including 9 for 15 (60 percent) behind the 3-point line.  WSC was 12-15 from the charity stripe.
            Sophomore center Jordan Janssen finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for his 13^th double-double of the season.  Al'Tavius Jackson accounted for 13 points while Nate Mohr and Nick Ferrarini also hit double figures with 12 and 11 points respectively.
            Minot State was led by Kyle Beisch with 21 points.  Kody Dwyer added 14 points with Trevor Rothstein scoring 11.
            The Beavers shot 27 of 59 from the field for 45.8 percent.  Minot State was 7 for 22 behind the arc and was just 1 of 2 at the free throw line.
            Wayne State won the rebounding battle over Minot State 33-28 thanks to 10 boards by Janssen. 
            Janssen handed out seven assists to lead WSC while Dentlinger finished with two blocks. 
            Wayne State hits the road next weekend playing at St. Cloud State Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and Minnesota Duluth Saturday at 5:30 p.m.