Wayne State 95 Simpson 72

            The Wayne State men's basketball team beat Simpson College 95-72 Friday evening in nonconference action at Rice Auditorium in Wayne. The 'Cats improve to 2-2 overall and Simpson falls to 1-3.
            The first half started close and at the first media timeout WSC had a 12-10 edge over the Storm. WSC came out of the timeout and went on a 9-0 run to move the deficit to 21-10. With 11:29 left in the first half the Storm hit a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to single digits for the final time in the contest. WSC scored on their next possession to make the lead 11.
            At the second media timeout in the half WSC led 28-18 and went on an 11-2 scoring run into the next media timeout up 39-20. Wayne State finished the half with a 15 point lead 57-32.
            Redshirt freshman Justin Eagins had 17 of his 19 points in the first half while corralling five boards to lead WSC. Also scoring in double figures in the first half were Jay Saunders and Jordan Janssen with 10 points each.
            Wayne State outscored Simpson 10-1 to open the second half of play as WSC extended their lead to 34 with 17 minutes to go in the ball game. Going into the first media timeout, the 'Cats led 69-39.
            WSC pushed the lead to 32 at 88-56 into the final media timeout of the game and Simpson came out and went on a 16-5 run but WSC finished the game over Simpson College by a score of 95-72.
            Nine Wildcats scored in the second half led by freshman Sean Stokes with 10 points.
            Wayne State shot 57 percent from the field (39-70) and held Simpson to just 45 percent (25-56). The 'Cats had a 36-26 advantage in rebounds and had four more assists 11-7. Wayne State shot 9-10 from the charity stripe while Simpson made 11-15 free throws. Wayne State had 60 of its 95 points in the paint and had 23 fast break points.
The 'Cats had a 36-34 edge in points off the bench and scored 27 points off turnovers compared to just 8 from Simpson. The Storm outshot the Wildcats from downtown with Simpson shooting 44 percent (11-25) compared to 38 percent from Wayne State (8-21).
Eagins led all scorers with 19 points and led Wayne State in rebounds with five. Five different Wildcats scored double digits with Saunders having 14 and Cody McCullough with 13. Wayne State had three players with four rebounds apiece in Janssen, McCullough, and Ben Dentlinger.
The Wildcats will be at home Tuesday evening hosting Augustana in the NSIC opener at Rice Auditorium starting at 7:30 p.m.