Wayne State grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and held a commanding 39-19 advantage in rebounding to defeat Arkansas Monticello 69-51 Saturday afternoon at the GAC/NSIC Men's Basketball Challenge in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Wildcats improve to 2-1 with the win while the Weevils drop to 2-1 on the year.
The Wildcats never trailed in the game, jumping out to an early 5-0 advantage. After the Weevils tied the score at 5-5 and 7-7, the Wildcats scored the next seven points and went on a 15-2 run over a span of 4:17 to take control of the contest.
Andrej Radivojevic and
Darshan Thomas made baskets and
Landon Classen drained a 3-pointer for the seven straight points. Thomas and
RJ McPartlin then each followed with four points apiece to cap the 15-2 scoring run giving the 'Cats a comfortable 22-9 lead at the 8:40 mark.
Wayne State continued to build on their lead, thanks to 10 offensive rebounds in the first half that resulted in 12 second-chance points, and the Wildcats closed the opening half with a 37-21 cushion.
Arkansas-Monticello actually held a slight edge in shooting percentage over WSC in the first half (40.9 – 40.5 percent), but the 'Cats held a sizeable 23-8 lead in rebounding.
The Wildcats opened the second half scoring 11 of the first 13 points of the second half to grab their biggest lead of the game at 48-23 with 15:54 to play in the contest and were never really threatened the rest of the game.
Eight different Wildcats scored in the second half and WSC held a 32-30 edge in scoring in the second half and finished with a 69-51 victory.
Wayne State finished the game making 26 of 62 shots for 41.9 percent, going 4-14 from the 3-point line and 13-14 at the free throw stripe.
Darshan Thomas led a balanced Wildcat attack with 13 points followed by reserve guard
Landon Classen with 11.
Arkansas-Monticello was 20-47 from the field for 42.9 percent including 1 of 9 behind the arc and 10-12 at the foul line. Justice Moore had 16 points for the Weevils with Josh Smith and Marvin Schindler each scoring 10.
The Wildcats held a commanding 39-19 edge in rebounding thanks to 16 offensive boards, turning into a 22-6 advantage in second-chance points.
Levente Tallos had four assists while
Eldon Turner had two steals.
The Wildcats will be at home Monday evening hosting Hesston College of Kansas in a non-conference game in Rice Arena beginning at 6 p.m.
