The Wayne State men’s basketball team traveled 12 hours north to Minot State and University of Mary, completing the weekend sweep finishing 2-0. With both wins this weekend, Wayne State now has control over the first place spot in the NSIC South Division with an overall record of 17-5 and a record of 12-4 in conference play.

In the first game of the weekend sweep, WSC dominated a tough University of Mary team winning the contest 67-48. The first half of the game was a battle with back-and-forth lead changes before Wayne State went on a 10-2 run. WSC scored the final six points of the first half to take a 29-25 lead going into halftime.

“We were able to meet a lot of our defensive goals last Friday night over Mary,” said senior guard Kendall Jacks. “We were able to force turnovers and execute down the stretch to pull away. We dug ourselves a hole that we were fortunate enough to get out of to pull away for a tough road win.”

The Wildcats took control in the second half, scoring 16 straight points to take a 58-36 lead over The Marauders. WSC shot 23 of 55 from the field and 9 for 22 from three-point range. WSC also shot 92.3% from the free point line on the game (12-13).

Freshman forward Jordan Janssen had his third straight double-double and seventh of the season scoring 11 points and recording 12 rebounds. Senior guard Trevin Joseph led Wayne State in scoring again with 20 points, including shooting 4-6 from behind the arc. This was Joseph’s eighth game of the season where he has totaled 20 or more points.

In the second game of the weekend sweep, Wayne State rallied back from an 18-point deficit to beat Minot State 85-79. WSC began their comeback with the help from Freshman Nick Ferrarini who scored 15 of his 17 points in the contest in the second half.
Jacks led WSC in scoring with 23 points, which moved him from the eighth spot to seventh place on the all-time scoring list at WSC with 1,474 points. Jacks shot 9-13 from the field on the adding four of six from the free throw line.

On the game Wayne State shot 52.2% from the field on 31 of 59 shooting. WSC also shot nine of 17 from behind the arc and 14 of 17 from the free-throw line on the game.

“This weekend we have another pair of tough teams from the north (St. Cloud State and University of Minnesota Duluth),” said Jacks. “We look forward to the opportunity to continue what we have started and it should be another fun and exciting atmosphere playing back at home in Rice.”

Wayne State will be back in action this weekend at home and will compete against NSIC opponents. The Wildcats will face St. Cloud on Friday at 7:30 and Minnesota Duluth on Saturday at 5:30 in Rice Auditorium.