The Wayne State men’s basketball team traveled to Minnesota this weekend to battle conference opponents Concordia St. Paul and Minnesota State Mankato, finishing 1-1 on the weekend. Wayne State now is tied for the first place spot in the NSIC South Division with Mankato and are now 13-7 in league play with an overall record of 18-8.

In the first game of the weekend, WSC beat a tough Concordia St. Paul led by Freshmen Nate Mohr with a career high of 21 points. The victory over CSP gives WSC its 18th win on the season, making it the most wins for a Wildcat men’s basketball team since the 1999-2000 season.

WSC held the lead the whole game, starting off the contest with scoring the first 10 points of the game. Wayne State finished the first half with a 42-39 half time lead over CSP.

“We played one of the best halves of basketball in the second half of the game on Friday and we competed hard as a team to get a big win on the road over a good conference team,” Mohr said.

The Wildcats shot 56 percent from the field while shooting 7 of 20 from behind the arc, four of the seven three-pointers made in the game being from Mohr. Freshman guard Nick Ferrarini contributed 17 points for WSC with freshman forward Jordan Janssen and senior Kendall Jacks each contributing 16 poins. WSC also won the rebounding contest on the game dominating the boards with a 34-28 advantage over CSP, paced by Jordan Janssen with nine boards.

In the second game of the weekend, Wayne State fell short to a talented Minnesota State Mankato team 78-89. Jacks paced WSC in scoring with 17 points on the night, making him the school’s all-time leader in scoring in conference games with 1,183 points, passing the previous record held by Wildcat alum Amry Shelby at 1,179 points. Jacks is now 19th all-time in NSIC scoring.

“Although it is an honor to be on the all-time scoring list, the focus is on this upcoming weekend of games, while going into this upcoming weekend with the same mindset,” Jacks said. “We need to take care of the ball and focus on forcing as many turnovers as we can and hopefully that results in two wins this weekend in front of a home crowd.”

Wayne State never had a lead in the second half of the game against MSU. Mankato held the rebounding advantage over WSC 37-28 while Jordan Janssen led Wayne State with eight boards.

Ferrarini added 16 points for WSC while Vance Janssen and Jordan Janssen each contributed 14 points. The Wildcats shot 43.3 percent from the field on 29 of 67 shooting while only shooting 4 of 19 from behind the arc. WSC was credited with shooting 80 percent from the free throw line on 16 of 20 shooting.

“I am looking forward to senior night [on Saturday], and having family and friends coming to support us this weekend,” said Jacks. “We have a great group of seniors and I think it will be an exciting weekend for everyone who attends.”

Wayne State will be at home this upcoming weekend for the final two home games of the regular season and will compete against conference opponents Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls.