Wayne, Neb. — Wayne State’s men’s basketball team took down Concordia-St. Paul 80-64 Saturday evening in NSIC South Division play in St. Paul, Minn. The Wildcats move to 13-10 overall and 10-7 in conference play while the Golden Bears drop to 3-23 overall and 2-17 in NSIC contests.
The Wildcats opened the game on a 10-0 run highlighted by two 3-pointers from junior guard Nate Mohr in the opening 2:30 of play. Concordia-St. Paul was able to battle back and heading into the first media timeout of the ballgame with 14:20 remaining in the half, WSC led by just three at 14-11.
Heading into the second media timeout, WSC again led by three at 22-19. Wayne State was not able to pull away as the Golden Bears took their first lead in the contest at 31-29 with 5:19 remaining in the first half.
Wayne State answered blows from the Golden Bears and the game was tied up three more times before halftime. The Golden Bears pushed their lead to as many as four but at the halftime break Concordia-St. Paul led by just one at 41-40.
Wayne State had 11 points from redshirt-freshman guard Justin Eagin through the first 20 minutes followed by Mohr with nine points and five assists.
Some free throws by the Golden Bears opened the second half, increasing the CSP lead to three just 15 seconds into the second. Wayne State answered with a basket from senior forward Ben Dentlinger and a 3-pointer from Eagins to take the lead back for good with 17:27 to go in the contest.
The Wildcat’s steadily built their lead to as many as 18, leading 78-60 with 4:03 left in the ball game. WSC finished the game scoring 80 points for just the fourth time this season, taking the win 80-64.
WSC shot 43.7 percent (31-71) from the field and 44.4 percent (12-27) from downtown while CSP made 41.7 percent (25-60) of their shot attempts and 34.6 percent (9-26) of their 3-pointers. WSC made 6-7 free throws (85.7 percent) while CSP converted on 5-7 attempts (71.4 percent).
WSC held a commanding 46-29 advantage in rebounds including a 16-5 tilt in offense boards and had more assists 22-15. The Wildcats committed 10 turnovers and grabbed five steals while the Golden Bears also had 10 turnovers to go with six steals.
Wayne State held a 32-30 edge in points in the paint while keeping a 21-0 advantage in second chance points. The ‘Cats bench scored 18 points for Wayne State while the Wildcats had 11 fast break points.
Eagins had a team-high 22 points in the game to go with five rebounds while Mohr made 5-10 from downtown for 15 points and led the team with seven assists in the game.
Dentlinger had a double-double in the contest with a team-leading 11 rebounds to go with 12 points and also recorded four blocks for the Wildcats.
Wayne State will visit Southwest Minnesota State Thursday evening at 7:30 p.m.
