The first NSIC win is in the books for Wayne State men’s basketball team, an impressive 81-79 victory against Winona State.

The Wildcats ended an 18-game, 10-year losing streak to Winona on Saturday night in Rice Auditorium.

Wayne State held a 10-point lead in the first half of the game, only for Winona to come back and lose by two points in the second half. Kendall Jacks was the leading scorer with 18 points and Patrick Kurth finished with 15.

“It was nice to finally get a win in conference. We have had a ton of close games that we all feel like they should have been wins at the time,” sophomore Joel Heesch said. “You get to the end of those games and think we let another one slip. It’s nice that we built a lead in a game and kept it the whole time to. It was really exciting.”

Wayne State lost to Upper Iowa Friday night 76-64. Austin Esters led the Wildcats with 16 points and Jordan Holdsworth added 11.

“We want to continue to get over the hump like we did on Saturday and keep pushing forward,” freshman Jordan Cornelius said.

The Wildcats play at Minot State on Friday night at 8 p.m. and at Bismark on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Upper Iowa 76, Wayne State 68
Wayne State……………… 29 39-68
Upper Iowa………………. 37 39-76
WSC: Esters 16, Holdsworth 11, Kurth 9, Nagy 9, Jacks 8, Cornelius 6, Vandeberg 5
UI: Pagel 16, Lang 13, Gamble 7, Lenhart 7, Hanna 6, Roth 6, Hay 6, Parker 6, Weeber 6, Hughes 3

Wayne State 81, Winona 79
Wayne State……………… 41 40-81
Winona………………………31 48-79
WSC: Jacks 18, Kurth 15, Vandeberg 13, Cornelius 12, Naggy 9, Esters 7, Holdsworth 9, Heesch 2
WSU: Masberg 21, Gray 15, Wagner 11, Blacklock 11, Bambenek 9, Bauman 8, Jeffs 2, Ben 2