WAYNE, Neb. – Conrad Masberg scored a career-high 21 points and four Warriors scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the Winona State men's basketball team fell to Wayne State 81-79 Saturday in Rice Auditorium.
Masberg made a career high seven of his 11 shots in the game, including a pair of 3-pointers. He also was a perfect 5-of-5 from the charity stripe while playing a career-high 34 minutes.
Mark Blacklock also had a solid game, posting the Warriors' first double-double of the season with an 11 point, 10 rebound performance.
Despite the loss, the Warriors were relatively efficient from the field, shooting 50 percent (29-of-58) from the field.
The Warriors started out with a quick 4-0 lead under a minute in with a Kyle Bauman layup and a Masberg jumper. Masberg then put the Warriors up 8-4 but a 3-pointer by Tyler Nagy eventually knotted the score at 11-11 with 16:10 to play.
The score would hover between a three and five point Wildcat lead for the majority of the first half until a Kendall Jacks 3-pointer put WSC up 31-27 with 5:19 to play. Wayne State would increase the lead to double digits at 35-25 before a quick 6-0 spurt capped off by a Masberg layup got the Warriors back within four at 35-31 with under two minutes to play. It would be short lived, however, as a Jordan Cornelius 3-pointer right before the half put WSC back up 10, 41-31, heading into halftime.
The Warriors would dig themselves a larger hole early in the second half as a Cornerlius jumper with 15:37 to play in the game gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game, a 17-point advantage at 53-36.
WSU would get the lead back to single digits relatively quickly as Tim Wagner and Isaiah Gray had back-to-back layups to make it a six-point deficit at 55-49 with 11:45 to play. Wayne State, however, slowly built up another 13-point lead by the time Trae Vandeberg hit a jumper with just under five minutes to play.
A pair of free throws by Bambenek and Wagner got it back to five, 72-67, and two more from Masberg made it a 3-point game with 1:30 to play to put the finishing touches on a 10-0 run that made it a one-score game. The Warriors would not be able to get any closer until the final buzzer, however, as a Masberg 3-pointer with four seconds left would leave the Warriors with the 81-79 loss.
Winona State (9-9, 6-8 NSIC) returns home next weekend to face Bemidji State Friday at 8 p.m. followed by a matchup with Minnesota Crookston at 6 p.m. in McCown Gym.
