WAYNE, Neb. – The Winona State University men's basketball team took on Wayne State College on Saturday, Dec. 17 in one of their final games of the 2022 calendar year, facing the Wildcats in the front half of a NSIC road-trip weekend.
When the dust settled in Rice Auditorium, Winona State fell to Wayne State, 81-72.
WSU was down by just one point at the break, 28-27 with
Luke Martens and
Owen King combining to score the final five Winona State first-half points. Marten's layup on an assist from King with 54 seconds remaining in the half, and King's 3-pointer with just 17 ticks left pulled WSU to within striking distance as the opening twenty minutes ended.
However, Wayne State came out of the locker room after the break with a 9-3 run and pulled away from the Warriors. The home side had a 14-point advantage midway through the second half, but Winona State pulled to within five points on a
Connor Dillon 3-pointer with under a minute to play.
WSC used a 6-for-6 performance at the free throw line in the final 42 seconds of the contest to secure the victory, despite a
James Kelley layup to finish the scoring at 81-72 Wildcats.
Kelley finished the night as the top WSU performer with 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting overall, leading the team.
Luke Martens added 14 points to the Warrior effort and hauled in seven rebounds to pace WSU on the boards.
Declan Dillon was dialed in defensively for Winona State, notching six steals on the night.
Overall, Winona State was 29-of-72 (40.3%) from the floor and 7-of-32 (23.8%) on 3-point attempts in the game. WSU hit 7-of-8 (87.5%) free throws, while Wayne State were awarded 18 foul shots on the night, converting on 16 efforts.
Wayne State improves to 9-3 overall on the year. The Wildcats have a 4-2 NSIC mark and stretched their winning streak over WSU to nine games.
With the setback, Winona State rises falls to 6-5 overall and 1-5 in the NSIC. The Warriors will wrap up their NSIC weekend at Augustana University tomorrow, Sunday, Dec. 18 with a 3:30 pm start at Augustana.
