WILBERFORCE, OH -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (0-1 overall) suffered a 72-68 setback in its season opener Tuesday night at Central State University (1-0 overall).

The Warriors started slowly as the Marauders scored the first seven points of the game until a dunk by junior Ike Udanoh (Detroit, Mich. / Warren Woods Tower) at the 17:38 mark.  The deficit was still seven (11-4) when WSU had a 9-0 run over a span of 3:30 to take a 13-11 lead.  Udanoh had four points during the spurt with junior Jerry Oden (Detroit, Mich./Cass Tech) and senior Bryan Wright (Warren, Ohio/Harding) each contributing a bucket and senior Bryan Edwards (Ypsilanti, Mich./Lincoln) adding a free throw.

The game was tied four times over the next four minutes until the hosts went on an 11-1 advantage to grab a 34-24 lead with 3:43 left before intermission.

Wayne State finished the opening 20 minutes with a 10-3 run to close within three (37-34) at the break.  Bryan Edwards had six points during the late run.

The game was tied at 42 at the 16:51 mark following a pair of foul shots by Oden.  CSU had leads of one to three points as junior Bryan Smothers (Pontiac, Mich./Northern) sank two free throws at the 13:32 mark making it a one-point game at 47-46.

The Marauders scored six consecutive points until a lay-up by Udanoh, but the hosts answered with five straight points for a 10-point advantage (58-48) at the 8:49 mark.

CSU's lead remained between six and nine points for the next five minutes until a Udanoh steal and lay-up made it a four-point contest (66-62) with 3:25 left.  A pair of free throws by Central State's Gino Smith increased the hosts lead to six.

Smothers drained a triple and following two more free throws by Smith, Udanoh hit a three with 46 seconds remaining pulling the Warriors within two at 70-68.

A missed jumper by Wright with the clock winding down and a rebound by Anthony Passley, who then sank two free throws with 1.7 seconds left sealed the win for CSU.

Wayne State has its home opener against pre-season No. 1 ranked Bellarmine University Saturday at the Matthaei.  Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.