The Wayne State men’s basketball team fell to Winona State over the weekend by a score of 89-71, which puts Wayne State at 14-16 and 9-13 in league play. The Wildcats have improved in the past two years in a row and are headed in the right direction next season.

The Wildcats were able to jump out to an early lead with a layup by Jordan Cornelius, which made the score 8-4. The two teams fought hard and traded lead changes twice with a total of five lead changes the rest of the game.

“We didn’t execute well enough and got behind early,” said junior Vance Janssen.

The last time the Wildcats led the game was after a three pointer by Trevin Joseph with about thirteen minutes left in the first half. The Warriors would later go on a 10-0 run themselves, and take their first double digit lead of the game 25-15. The Wildcats and Warriors would trade baskets before the Warriors put the game out of reach with a 16-6 run making the score 48-28 at halftime.

“It’s sort of taking that next step and not just competing at a high level,” said Jeff Kaminsky, head coach. “But being able to beat teams, especially teams that are competing in the upper half in our league.”

Winona State came out of the second half, sustained a sizeable lead throughout the game and shot 15 of 26 in the second half. The Wildcats were only able to shoot 33 percent in the first half and finished the game shooting 44.6 percent.

“The team this year is nearly the same as last year because we didn’t have any seniors last year,” said Janssen.

Joseph was the leading scorer with 26 points, going 9-16 from the field and 4-8 behind the arc and 4-6 at the charity stripe. Kendall Jacks and Matt Thomas ended the game as well with 11 and 10 points.

Wayne State will be in the first round of the NSIC Sanford Health Men’s Basketball Tournament tonight, and will play St.Cloud at 8 p.m.