Redshirt sophomore guard Alec Millender's 12 foot jumper with 4.3 seconds remaining helped Wayne State withstand a furious second half comeback by Northern State giving Wayne State a 70-69 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball victory at Northern State Friday evening in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  It was Wayne State's first road win of the season (1-3) for the Wildcats, now 10-7 and 3-7 in the NSIC, while Northern State is 6-9 and 4-5 in the league.
            Wayne State led for all but 29 seconds of the game, but the Wildcats held off a furious second half comeback by the host Wolves as the Wildcats led by as many as 19 points in the second half before using Millender's late-game heroics to pick up the win.
            The Wildcats took advantage of horrendous shooting by the Wolves on their home court in the first half to take a 31-18 lead at intermission.
            NSU was just 7 of 32 (21.9%) in the first half from the field while WSC was 13 of 34 for 38.2 percent in taking the lead in the first half.
            With the score tied at 11-11, Wayne State went on a 16-3 run over a span of 8:11 to take a 27-14 lead before closing the first half with a 31-18 advantage.
            Wayne State opened the second half with a pair of 3-pointers from junior Trey Deveaux to take their biggest lead of the night at 37-18 with 19:02 to play.
            The Wolves stormed back by making 14 of their first 17 shots from the field in the second half.  Despite the hot shooting from NSU, WSC still held a 61-48 lead with 8:08 remaining. 
            Northern State then scored the next 11 points and closed within two at 61-59 with 5:26 left following a Josh Dilling 3-pointer. 
            The Wildcats used five straight points from Sean Stokes and two Millender free throws to push the lead back to seven at 68-61 with 2:39 to go.
            Northern State's Jacksen Moni then scored the next eight points on a 3-pointer followed by five straight free throws to give the Wolves their lone lead of the game at 69-68 with 33 seconds left.
            Moni missed the second of two free throws at the 33 second mark with Deveaux grabbing the rebound to help the Wildcats set up the game-winning play by Millender, who dribbled left and hit a 12-foot step back jumper with 4.3 to play giving Wayne State the dramatic win.
            Millender ended the game with 21 points for Wayne State.  Deveaux added 13 with David Harmon scoring 12.
            Wayne State ended the game making 26 of 61 shots for 42.6 percent.  The 'Cats were 8 of 25 from 3-point range and 10 of 13 at the charity stripe.
            Moni poured in 21 points for Northern State followed by Dilling with 18 points.
            NSU shot 40.7 percent from the field on 22 of 54 shots, including 15 for 22 (68%) in the second half.  The Wolves made 9 of 14 3-pointers in the second half and was 11 of 31 for the game while making 14 of 18 free throws.
            WSC won the rebounding battle over NSU 39-33 thanks to six boards from Elijah Watson.  Millender had a team-high five assists while Sean Stokes had two of Wayne State's three blocked shots.
            Wayne State continues their NSIC road trip Saturday afternoon with a 3:30 p.m. contest at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota.