Wayne State played from behind all night long as Winona State shot 57 percent in the first half to build a 16-point halftime lead and the host Warriors went on to defeat the Wildcats 73-65 in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball Saturday evening at McCown Gymnasium in Winona, Minnesota. Winona State is now 16-9 and 11-8 in league play while the 'Cats drop to 13-12 and 6-12 in the NSIC.
WSC never led in the contest and the game was tied for just 43 seconds. Tied at 9-9 at the 14:24 mark, Winona State surged to a 26-15 lead with 9:42 to play in the half.
The Warriors used 57 percent shooting to build a 17-point lead (39-22) before closing the half in front 42-26 while holding Wayne State to just 34 percent (9-26) shooting.
Winona State maintained their double-digit lead for a majority of the second half until the final five minutes when Wayne State made a rally.
The Warriors held a 67-56 advantage with 2:02 to play, but the 'Cats used baskets from
Trey Deveaux and
Noah Erickson and a 3-pointer from
JJ Ferrin to cut the deficit to 69-63 with 38 seconds to play. A pair of
Alec Millender free throws with 31 seconds to play pulled the 'Cats within four at 69-65.
Winona State missed two free throws, but WSC could not take advantage and missed two front ends of the one-and-one and the Warriors then made four free throws in the final 22 seconds to preserve the 73-65 win.
Deveuax led Wayne State with his fourth double-double of the season producing 23 points with 11 rebounds on 9 of 17 shooting. Ferrin added 15 points off the bench with Millender scoring 14.
Wayne State was 24 of 60 from the field for 40 percent. The 'Cats were 6 for 16 from the 3-point line and 11 of 16 at the line.
Connor Dillon scored 18 points for Winona State. Olumide Adelodun added 16, Connor Drew 11 and Devon Fielding had 10 points.
Winona State made 26 of 51 shots for 51 percent, going 10 of 25 from the 3-point line and just 11 for 20 at the charity stripe.
WSC held a slim 37-35 edge in rebounding thanks to 11 boards from Deveaux.
Wayne State is on the road again next weekend, visiting #9 MSU Moorhead Friday at 7:30 p.m. followed by a visit to Minnesota Crookston Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
