St. Cloud State 100 Wayne State 98 OT

            St. Cloud State's Ryan Bagley made a layup as time expired in overtime to give the visiting Huskies a wild 100-98 overtime victory over Wayne State College Wednesday evening in the opening round of the NSIC Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament played at Rice Auditorium in Wayne.  SCSU, the #6 seed from the North Division, improved to 11-17 with the win while South Division #3 seed Wayne State ends the year at 14-12.
            It was hot shooting from the Huskies throughout the night that forced Wayne State to play from behind much of the contest.
            After WSC opened with a 6-0 lead, St. Cloud State stormed back and built an 18-11 lead at the 12:16 mark.
            WSC got within four at 18-14, but the hot-shooting Huskies exploded with a 23-4 run over the next 5:33 and took a commanding 41-18 lead with 5:54 to play in the half thanks to 8 of 13 shooting from behind the arc.
            The Wildcats rallied in the final six minutes of the half and reduced the Husky lead to nine at intermission – 47-38 – following a Nate Mohr 3-pointer with four seconds left before halftime.
            St. Cloud State still held a double digit lead – 51-40 – three minutes into the second half and maintained a 63-55 lead with just under 12 minutes to play when the Wildcats made a comeback.
            Trailing 69-63 with 7:54 remaining, WSC used a pair of Alec Millender baskets followed by a steal and layup from Justin Eagins to tie the game at 69-69.  A Ben Dentlinger dunk gave WSC its first lead of the second half at 71-69 at the 5:45 mark. 
            The Huskies did not go away and led by three, 79-76, with 2:37 left.
            SCSU still led 81-80 but WSC got two free throws each from Eagins, Millender and Mohr in the final 29 seconds and had a 86-83 lead after two Mohr free throws with eight seconds to play.
            Anthony Roberts drained a 3-pointer from the right wing with just under two seconds to play to force overtime at 86-86.
            The Huskies built a five-point lead early in the overtime session at 94-89.  WSC was still down 98-95 with 29 seconds to play, but Eagins connected on a 3-pointer with 19 seconds to play knotting the score at 98-98. 
            But St. Cloud State's Ryan Bagley drove to the left side of the basket and banked in a layup as time expired giving the visiting Huskies the 100-98 overtime win.
            Junior forward Jordan Janssen matched his career-high with 29 points making 12 of 16 shots from the field and 5 of 7 at the charity stripe.  Eagins followed with 19 points with Mohr scoring 17 on five 3-pointers.  Millender (14) and Dentlinger (11) also hit double digits.
            Wayne State shot 50 percent for the game making 36 of 72 shots.  The 'Cats were 7 of 21 from the 3-point line and 19 of 26 at the charity stripe.
            Anthony Roberts poured in a game-high 34 points to lead St. Cloud State in scoring.  Caleb Donaldson added 24 points with Ryan Bagley scoring 12 and Matthew Willert 11.
            The Huskies shot a sizzling 58 percent from the floor on 35 of 60 shots, including 15 for 26 (57.7%) from the 3-point line.  SCSU was 15 of 19 at the free throw line.
            SCSU had one more rebound than WSC 34-33 with Dentlinger and Janssen each grabbing six for the 'Cats.  WSC forced 22 turnovers on St. Cloud State to just 10 by the Wildcats, resulting in a 27-13 advantage in points off turnovers. 
            Alec Millender was credited with eight assists in the game while Dentlinger had two blocks.