The Wayne State men's basketball team overcame a 20-point first half deficit and 58 percent shooting by host Eckerd College as the Wildcats rallied in the second half for a 89-87 victory over the Tritons at the Eckerd College Thanksgiving Classic Men's Basketball Tournament Saturday evening in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Wildcats improve to 6-1 with the win while Eckerd suffers its first loss of the season and is now 3-1.
WSC led early 6-2, but Eckerd scored the next 14 points and had a 16-6 lead just 7:15 into the contest.
The host Tritons increased their lead thanks to 63 percent shooting (19-30) in the half while holding the Wildcats to just 30 percent and built a 20-point lead at 41-21 before closing the half with a sizeable 48-32 advantage.
The Wildcats came out strong to open the second half and used a 12-0 run, highlighted by back-to-back 3's from senior guard Nate Mohr, to cut the Tritons lead to five at 51-46 at the 16:51 mark.
WSC trailed by eight (54-46) but an 11-2 run gave the Wildcats a 57-56 lead on a Nick Ferrarini basket with 13:06 remaining.
The Tritons responded with one of nine lead changes in the second half and scored eight straight points to regain the lead at 64-57.
With Eckerd leading 66-62, the 'Cats scored nine points in the next minute and took their biggest lead of the game at 71-66 following a Jordan Janssen three-point play with 7:17 left.
The two teams traded the lead seven more times in the final five minutes with four ties and neither team led by more than four points.
The Tritons were in front 84-82 with 1:36 to play, but WSC got baskets from Eagins and Janssen along with two free throws from Eagins to go ahead 88-84 with 17 seconds remaining.
A three-point play by Eckerd's Daniel Love cut the lead to one at 88-87 with 12 seconds to play. Mohr was fouled and made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left to give WSC a 89-87 lead.
Eckerd's Kent Garard missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds and Wayne State held on for the 89-87 victory.
Wayne State ended the game making 27 of 64 shots for 42 percent, including 9 for 20 behind the arc. The Wildcats held a sizeable edge at the foul line making 26 of 32 free throws to just 12 of 13 for Eckerd.
Janssen had a game-high 25 points for the Wildcats, going 9 of 14 from the field and 7 for 8 at the line. Eagins added 18 points, Mohr 17 and sophomore Cody McCullough had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Eckerd shot 58 percent for the game making 35 of 60 shots. The Tritons hit 5 of 15 3-pointers.
Daniel Love had 22 points for Eckerd with Carr Thiam scoring 20. Mekhi Perry chipped in 16 points.
WSC held a 40-28 edge in rebounding thanks to 21 offensive boards. The 'Cats held a 28-17 advantage in points off turnovers despite having two fewer turnovers than Eckerd (15-13).
Wayne State resumes Northern Sun Conference play Thursday evening with a road game at Sioux Falls starting at 7:30 p.m.
