Wayne State could not overcome a season-high 21 turnovers as host St. Cloud State rallied from several 10-point deficits to force overtime and defeat the Wildcats 71-63 in overtime Saturday evening in a Northern Sun Conference men's basketball game played at Halenbeck Hall in St. Cloud, Minnesota.  The Huskies are now 9-7 and 5-3 in the league while WSC falls to 8-7 and 2-7 in the NSIC.
            The Wildcats held the lead the entire first half and led until just over seven minutes left in the second half.
            The first half saw the 'Cats take a 21-11 lead on a Jay Saunders jumper with 6:42 to play in the half.  SCSU scored the next six points to get within four before WSC ended the half with a 28-21 lead.
            Early in the second half, the 'Cats pushed the lead back to 10 at 36-26 on a fast break layup by Saunders with 12:44 remaining.
            But the host Huskies went on a 14-3 scoring run over the next 4:30 and took their first lead of the night at 40-39 with 7:07 to play.
            St. Cloud State eventually built the lead to six at 50-44 with 2:43 to play, but WSC rallied and used a 9-2 run to regain the lead at 53-52 with 12 seconds to play on a Saunders driving layup. 
            On the next possession the Huskies were fouled with 3.6 seconds left and Kynan Philippe made one of two free throws to tie the score at 53-53 and send the game into overtime.
            Wayne State opened the extra session with a 3-pointer by Saunders, but the lead was short lived. 
            The 'Cats could not overcome 10-13 free throw shooting by the Huskies in the extra session as SCSU outscored WSC 18-10 in the overtime to win the contest 71-63.
            Saunders led Wayne State in the contest with a career-high 17 points, going 7 for 11 from the field.  Freshman forward Matt Noll also hit double digits with 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting.
            WSC made 24 of 55 shots from the field for 43.6 percent.  The 'Cats were 6 for 18 from the 3-point line and 9 of 10 at the charity stripe.
            Nate Dahl had 18 points for St. Cloud State.  Philippe added 15 followed by Luke Winkel with 14 and Wyatt Hawks scoring 13 points.
            St. Cloud State shot 38.6 percent from the field making 22 of 57 shots.  The Huskies were 8 of 26 behind the arc and connected on 19 of 30 free throws.
            SCSU held a 39-32 edge in rebounding over WSC with Cody McCullough hauling in 12 boards for the 'Cats.  Saunders had four assists and two steals while Noll recorded three of Wayne State's five blocks.
            WSC had a season-high 21 turnovers in the game (previous high was 13), resulting in 19 SCSU points off turnovers in the contest.  SCSU also had 16 offensive rebounds to just seven for WSC. 
            Wayne State is at home next weekend hosting Northern State Friday at 7:30 p.m. and the University of Mary Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. contest.