Wayne State shot just 34 percent from the floor and 50 percent from the free throw line as the Wildcats fall 75-59 on the road to the Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles. The Wildcats drop to 10-8 overall and 7-5 in the conference while the Golden Eagles improve to 7-13 on the season and 4-10 in the NSIC.
            Minnesota Crookston opened the game on a 10-4 run just 4:56 into the contest. Wayne State fought back and with 12:30 to go before halftime, WSC cut the Minnesota Crookston lead to just four at 14-10.
            The Golden Eagles scored the next six points to open up a 10 point lead with the score at 20-10 with 9:28 to go before halftime. The 'Cats then cut the lead to three at 20-17 with 6:14 to play in the half.
            Minnesota Crookston outscored Wayne State 11-7 in the remaining six minutes before intermission and the Golden Eagles had a 31-24 advantage at halftime.
            The first 20 minutes were controlled by the Golden Eagles defense with Wayne State shooting just 28 percent from the field but staying in the game making 5-11 (45.5 percent) from downtown in the first half.
            Freshman guard Justin Eagins had 11 points in the first half while junior guard Nate Mohr added six.
            Senior forward Ben Dentlinger led WSC with five rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.
            The Golden Eagles opened the second half again clamping down on defense, holding WSC to just three points through the first five minutes of the second half. At the 14:38 mark, Minnesota Crookston led Wayne State 41-27.
            Into the next media timeout with 9:58 remaining in the game, Minnesota Crookston was in front 52-39.
            Freshman guard Alec Millender made a pair of free throws with 7:32 to go to cut the Golden Eagle lead to 10, 56-46. Minnesota Crookston responded with four unanswered points to lead 60-46 heading into a called WSC timeout.
            After a timeout with 4:45 remaining, Millender uses a pair of free throws to cut the lead to single digits at 64-55.
            The Golden Eagles closed out the game extending the lead, taking the contest 75-59.
            Minnesota Crookston outrebounded Wayne State 48-28 including 15-10 offensive boards. The Golden Eagles shot 49.2 percent (30-61) and 27.3 percent (3-11) from downtown, compared to 34.3 percent (21-61) from the field and 40.9 percent from behind the arc for the Wildcats.
            Wayne State had five more steals than Minnesota Crookston (9-4) and committed seven less turnovers (17-10). WSC had a 7-4 edge in blocked shots and held a 26-4 advantage in fast break points.
            Eagins led the 'Cats with 18 points, followed by Mohr with 15.
            Dentlinger had seven rebounds in the game to go with four blocks while Eagins added five boards.
            The Wildcats close out their NSIC cross division road trip Saturday evening with a 5:30 p.m. contest at Bemidji State.