Wayne State College men’s basketball traveled to Sioux Falls to take on the Cougars in the first round of the NSIC Tournament last Wednesday.
The Wildcats and Cougars met twice throughout the season, splitting the series which saw the home team winning in each contest. The two teams met just a week prior to the first-round matchup.
WSC started behind the eight ball when Sioux Falls went on an 8-0 run in the first three minutes of the game, which would cause Head Coach Jeff Kaminsky to call a 30-second timeout.
After the timeout, the Wildcats would go on an 8-0 run to even the game. The Cougars then followed with a 15-6 run to find themselves ahead by nine with 10:48 to play in the first half. Sioux Falls’ largest lead in the first half would be 10 at the 10:03 mark.
The Wildcats were able to go on an 11-0 run from that point to take their first lead of the game from a JJ Ferrin three pointer with 7:41 to play in the first half. Sioux Falls finished the half by taking a seven-point lead into the locker room 42-35.
During the first half, the Wildcats were outshot by the Cougars 47% from the field to the Wildcats 38%. Redshirt junior guard Aurrion Harris led the way for the Wildcats in the first half with 13 points.
Sophomore forward Matt Noll for WSC provided some offensive help as well with seven points in the first half.
Sioux Falls came out of the locker room firing with an 18-6 run. This would find them extending their lead to 19 with 14:54 to play. Sioux Falls’ largest lead of the game would be 25 at the 10:28 mark when they were up 70-45.
WSC had too much of a hill to climb and not enough time to work with. The Wildcats would be able to cut the deficit to 11 with 3:57 to play. The Cougars, however, would answer and not leave any room for Wayne State to come back into this game.
Wayne State fell to Sioux Falls 94-76. Sioux Falls outshot the Wildcats 48% to 41%. Harris led all Wildcat scorers with 21 points, followed by Noll with 19 points and 19 bench points from redshirt freshman guard Darshan Thomas.
This result would mark the fifth straight year that Wayne State would lose in the first-round matchup. Their last time winning a conference tournament game was the 2020-21 season where they defeated St. Cloud State 73-70.
