Wayne State 76 Sioux Falls 63

            The Wayne State men's basketball team finished out the regular season with a win over the University of Sioux Falls 76-63 Saturday evening in NSIC action played in Wayne at Rice Auditorium. The Wildcats improve to 14-11 overall and 11-8 in the NSIC while the Cougars fall to 11-14 overall and 7-12 in conference play.
            The Cougars started with a 10-3 run, leading by seven with 14:25 remaining in the first half. Wayne State answered with an 11-0 run to take the lead 14-10 with 11:20 to go before halftime.
            Sioux Falls tied the game at 14-14 but Wayne State answered with another small run to take the lead for good. Wayne State led 31-22 heading into the final media timeout of the half with 4:45 to go.
            Senior guard Nate Thayer made a three pointer from just behind the half court line as the buzzer expired to end the half up by 19 with the score at 48-29.
            Juniors Jordan Janssen and Nate Mohr both had eight points in the first half to lead WSC offensively.
            The Cougars cut into the Wildcat lead and into the first media timeout, USF was training 54-38 with 14:27 to go in the game.
            Sioux Falls cut the lead to single digits at 57-48 before Wayne State answered with 15 consecutive points to open up the lead back to 24. Wayne State led 73-50 going into the final media timeout with 4:56 remaining.
            Wayne State finished out the game with the 76-63 win.
            WSC shot 53.6 percent (30-56) from the floor and 33.3 percent (5-15) from downtown while USF made 46.8 percent (22-47) of their field goals and 36.8 percent (7-19) from 3-point range. The Wildcats made 11-17 free throws (64.7 percent) while the Cougars made 12-16 (75 percent).
            The Cougars had one more rebound than WSC (29-28) with each side grabbing seven offensive boards. Wayne State had fewer turnovers (18-12) and each team had nine steals.
            The Wildcats had a 29-8 advantage in points off turnovers and a 42-26 tilt in points in the paint.
            Redshirt freshman guard Justin Eagins led five Wildcats in double figure scoring with 18 points. Mohr had 12 while senior Ben Dentlinger and freshman Alec Millender had 11 points each.
Janssen finished with 10 points and tied Dentlinger with seven rebounds, each.
            The Wildcats earned the third seed in the NSIC South Division and host St. Cloud State who finished sixth in the North. The game will be Wednesday at 6 p.m. during the opening round of the 2022 NSIC Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament.