St. Cloud State shot 72 percent (18 of 25) in the second half, outscoring Wayne State 52-33, to defeat the Wildcats 79-61 in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball Friday evening in St. Cloud, Minnesota at Halenbeck Hall. WSC drops to 11-8 and 4-8 in the league while SCSU improves to 8-9 and 4-7 in league action.
Wayne State led nearly the entire first half of a low-scoring opening 20 minutes of play.
With the 'Cats leading 16-15 at the midway point of the first half, WSC used a
Sean Stokes 3-pointer and basket from
Trey Deveaux to take a 21-15 lead.
The 'Cats took their biggest lead of the half at 26-19 followed a three-point play by Deveaux. St. Cloud State then scored eight straight points to grab a short-lived 27-26 lead as
Alec Millender's layup with three seconds left in the half gave Wayne State a 28-27 lead at intermission.
Wayne State got off to a strong start in the second half, taking a five point lead at 32-27. The Huskies rallied with seven straight points for a 34-32 advantage, but Stokes drained a 3-pointer for a Wayne State 35-34 edge.
That would be the final lead of the night for the Wildcats.
SCSU scored seven straight points for a 41-35 lead and took their first double digit lead at 52-42 with 9:21 remaining.
With their stellar shooting in the second half, St. Cloud State slowly pulled away and outscored WSC 52-33 in the half for the 79-61 victory.
Deveaux and Millender each scored 21 points for Wayne State. Both players were 9 of 14 shooting from the field.
Wayne State was 26 of 54 shooting for 48 percent. The 'Cats were 6 of 14 from the 3-point line and 3 of 5 at the charity stripe.
Anish Ramlall had 15 points to lead three St. Cloud State players in double figures. Lucas Morgan scored 12 and Jamiir Allen added 11.
SCSU made 29 of 57 shots for the game (50.9%). The Huskies were 9 for 25 behind the arc and 12 of 16 at the line.
The Huskies had one more rebound than WSC 31-30. Deveaux hauled in seven boards for the 'Cats to go with three blocked shots.
The Wildcats conclude their NSIC road trip Saturday night with a 5:30 p.m. contest at Bemidji State.