The men’s basketball team is now 1-1 coming back from a road trip in St. Joseph, Mo.

The Wildcats competed in the Hillyard Tip-off Classic and took the split for the weekend, defeating Missouri Western 70-57 on Saturday and suffering a loss Sunday against Northwestern Missouri State 76-58.

Missouri Western held a commanding 22-4 advantage on points over the Wildcats in the first half and held a 30-29 lead at intermission, but the ‘Cats fought back and scored nine straight points to take the lead for good.

After fighting back and fourth, WSC finished with the 70-57 win.

“When I got here, I told our guys three things we must do: we have to win on the boards, play great defense and no turnovers,” new Head Coach Jeff Kaminsky said.

On Sunday, the team did not win in the rebound column as the Bearcats dominated the board with 44 rebounds, and the Wildcats finished the game with 27. The Wildcats also had a bad shooting night, going 18-51 from the field.

“We play as a team; we just don’t have one standout player,” Kaminsky said. “Brian Goodwin has been pretty good over the past couple games, but yesterday it was Kendall Jacks who had a great night.”

Jacks led the team in scoring with 13 first-half points and finishing the day with 21 points. He was the only player on the team to hit double digits scoring, with Matt Thomas and Tony Bonner adding eight points apiece.

With the basketball season just getting underway, there is plenty of time for the team to finish off the year as a top team in the conference.

“We are a great shooting team. We’re not very athletic, but I think everybody on this unit has the ability to shoot the ball,” Kaminsky said.

Wayne State travels to Brookings, S.D., on Wednesday to face South Dakota State University in another exhibition game.

The Wildcats will be on the road the next five games.