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 Will Pierce had 12 points and seven rebounds versus Southern Indiana. |
Dec. 20, 2006
DETROIT - The Wayne State University men's basketball squad (4-5 overall) fell to the fifth-ranked Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (11-1 overall) 78-69 Wednesday night at the Matthaei in the second game of the 2006 GLIAC/GLVC Challenge. In the first contest, Indianapolis upended Ferris State 71-60.
After a lay-up by USI's Keith Christmas in the first minute, WSU responded with a triple by senior Will Pierce (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) for a 3-2 lead. Just over a minute later the scored was tied at six after a three-pointer by senior Joe Carr (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance).
The Warriors would be held scoreless for over eight minutes until a lay-up by Pierce with 9:27 on the clock, which stopped a 10-0 run by the guests. USI's Melvin Hall and WSU's Kris Krzyminski (Flint, Mich./Central) traded triples to make the score 19-11.
The Screaming Eagles grabbed a 25-15 lead on a foul shot by Kenny Page, but Wayne State scored the next four points on a lay-up by Carr and a lay-up by freshman Michael Henderson (Flint, Mich./Southwestern). USI scored eight of the next 10 points for a 12-point advantage at 33-21 and the guests then tallied nine of the final 12 points of the first half for a 42-24 lead at intermission.
Wayne State shot just 36 percent (nine of 25) from the floor in the first half.
After USI gained its largest lead of the contest (19 at 45-26) just 75 seconds into the second half, the Warriors kept chipping away and had the deficit under 10 three times in just over a two minute span. The Screaming Eagles held a 10-point lead with 7:20 remaining at 67-57, but WSU scored seven of the next nine points to make it a five-point game at 69-64 with 5:38 left following a jumper by Krzyminski. Wayne State had a stop on the defensive end, but turned the ball over then Krzyminski recorded a steal but a missed three point attempt and a turnover prevented the hosts from getting within three points.
USI only made five of its final eight free throw attempts over the final 46 seconds, but WSU made only one of its three field goal attempts plus had a turnover.
Wayne State held the GLVC's top-ranked field goal shooting team 14 percent below its season average of 54.4 (USI was 27 of 67 for 40.3 percent). The 78 points scored by USI was its second-lowest output of the season. In the Screaming Eagles 12 games, two of their three lowest scoring contests have been against Wayne State.
Krzyminski had a game-high 24 points, just two below his season average, while Pierce contributed 12 points, his second-highest output of the season. The Warriors outscored USI 45-36 in the second half despite shooting 16 less free throws over the final 20 minutes. Junior Jason Saddler (Detroit, Mich./Cody) grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
Wayne State will get a chance to even its season record when the Indianapolis Greyhounds face the Warriors at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 21 at the Matthaei. The first game of the evening pits Ferris State against Southern Indiana at 5:30 p.m.
