WSC Men and Women split with St. Cloud State

WSC Men and Women split with St. Cloud State
January 28th, 2023 | wscwildcats.com

Wayne State College used 55 percent shooting and a season-high 26 points from fifth year guard Nate Mohr to pace the Wildcats in a 78-61 Northern Sun Conference cross division men’s basketball win at St. Cloud State Saturday afternoon.  It was the first-ever NSIC regular season win in nine tries at St. Cloud for the Wildcats, who improved to 15-7 and 10-6 in NSIC play.  SCSU is now 7-14 and 4-12 in league games this season.

The host Huskies held the lead early on WSC, taking a 10-5 advantage and was still in front 12-9 when the Wildcats used a scoring run to take the lead for good.

Eight straight points by WSC – 3-pointers from Nate Mohr and Nick Ferrarini and a jumper by Jordan Janssen – gave the Wildcats a 17-12 cushion.

SCSU was within one at 19-18 when Wayne State used treys by Mohr and Ferrarini again to take their biggest lead of the first half at 25-18 as the Wildcats held the Huskies scoreless for 4:44.

St. Cloud State closed the margin and trailed by four at intermission 34-30.

Wayne State used hot shooting in the first 10 minutes of the second half to separate themselves from the Huskies as the ‘Cats made 12 of their first 17 shots (70 percent) to build a 22-point lead that SCSU could never recover from.

The Wildcats used a Justin Eagins 3-pointer to take their first double-digit lead of the night at 44-32 with 17:48 to play.

Mohr also had a hot hand in the second half as he connected on four 3-pointers and scored 14 second half points by the under 10 media time out to propel the Wildcats to a 65-47 lead.

Wayne State ended the second half making 60 percent from the field (18-30) and finished with a 78-61 victory.

Mohr scored a season-high 26 points, one shy of matching his career-high.  He was 10 of 13 from the field and 6 for 9 behind the arc to lead WSC in scoring.  Eagins finished with 19 points while Janssen ended with 14 and surpassed the 2,000 point mark at WSC, now with 2,010 points.  Ferrarini also hit double figures with 11.

Wayne State had its second-best shooting game of the season making 30 of 54 shots for 55.6 percent.  The ‘Cats sank 12 of 26 3-pointers and were 6 for 8 at the line.

Ryan Bagley had 13 points for St. Cloud State followed by Luke Taylor with 12 and Dom Aguilar with 11.  

St. Cloud State shot just 32.8 percent from the field on 21 of 64 shots.  The Huskies were 9 for 32 from the 3-point line and 10 of 14 at the stripe.

WSC had one more rebound than SCSU 34-33 with Janssen grabbing nine.  Janssen, Ferrarini and Jay Saunders each had four assists while Saunders and Cody McCullough each recorded three steals.

The Wildcats will be on the road again next weekend visiting Upper Iowa Friday night at 5:30 p.m. and Winona State Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State took advantage of four Wayne State turnovers in the final two minutes as the Huskies held off the Wildcats 65-61 in a Northern Sun Conference women’s basketball cross division contest played in St. Cloud, Minnesota Saturday evening.  The host Huskies are now 15-5 and 12-4 in the NSIC with WSC sitting at 10-10 and 6-10 in the NSIC South Division.

The ‘Cats got off to a slow start, trailing 8-1 to start the game.  WSC was down seven again later in the quarter at 18-11 but finished the first quarter trailing 18-15.

WSC was still down six early in the second quarter when the ‘Cats forged the first tie of the game at 25-25 following a Maya Fitzpatrick layup with 5:11 to play in the half.

The Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 28-27 on an Ashley Gustavson 3-pointer at the 4:03 mark and scored the final five points of the quarter to take a 35-29 lead at intermission thanks to 53 percent shooting (8-15) in the second quarter.

Wayne State came out strong to start the third quarter, scoring the first six points to take a 41-29 lead at the 8:22 mark on a Rachel Dahlen offensive rebound and putback.

WSC was still in front 45-39 with three minutes to play in the quarter until SCSU closed the quarter with the final six points to tie the score at 45-45 heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter went back and forth between the two clubs with six ties and five lead changes, but SCSU closed the game forcing four straight turnovers on WSC while making a pair of key three point plays to edge the ‘Cats.

Neither team held a leadoff more than three points until the closing seconds.

A 3-pointer by Lauren Zacharias gave WSC their final lead of the game at 61-59 with 2:17 remaining.

The two teams traded turnovers followed by a 3-pointer by the Huskies to take a 62-61 advantage with 1:13 to play.

Another WSC turnover led to a three-point play by St. Cloud State with 32 seconds to play for a 65-61 lead.

The ‘Cats then had two more turnovers to close the game as the Huskies held on for the win.

Fitzpatrick poured in a career-high 16 points to lead WSC in scoring while Zacharias also scored 16.

Wayne State made 23 of 53 shots for 43.4 percent, going 4 of 14 from the 3-point line and 11 for 15 at the free throw line.

Katrina Theis and Jada Eggebrecht each scored 16 points for St. Cloud State.  The Huskies shot 43.1 percent making 22 of 51 shots, going 8 for 19 from the 3-point line and 13 of 22 at the charity stripe.

SCSU held a 40-26 edge in rebounding and had 16 offensive rebounds.  Kylah vanDonkersgoed led WSC on the glass with four caroms.

St. Cloud State had 25 turnovers to 20 for WSC.  Zacharias had four assists for WSC while Fitzpatrick recorded four steals.

Wayne State is on the road again next weekend visiting Upper Iowa Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Winona State Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

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