Findlay, Ohio – The Wayne State University men's basketball team (11-3 overall, 7-1 GLIAC) suffered its first conference loss of the year, 73-71, at eighth-ranked Findlay (14-1 overall, 7-1 GLIAC) Saturday afternoon.

The 27th-ranked Warriors grabbed an early 11-5 lead as five different Green and Gold players scored.

Sophomore guard Mike Hollingsworth (Utica, Mich.) scored five consecutive Wayne State points giving the visitors a 16-13 near the mid-point of the opening half.

After a bucket by senior center Ike Udanoh (Detroit, Mich./Harper Woods Notre Dame) pushed the lead to five, WSU was scoreless for nearly three minutes as UF tallied four straight points to pull within.

Junior guard Stacey Waters (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) nailed a jumper to make it 24-21 at the 4:27 mark, the Oilers responded with a 9-0 run to go up 30-24. Senior forward Jerry Oden (Detroit, Mich./Cass Tech) ended the run with a hoop at 2:19.

When Findlay took a 26-24 lead, it was the hosts first since 2-0.

The Warriors outscored the Oilers 9-8 to end the half starting with Oden's bucket. A key shot was a triple by UF's Nathan Hyde just before the first half buzzer, which gave the hosts a 38-33 advantage at intermission.

Both teams shot well in the opening 20 minutes: WSU 54 percent (14-of-26) and UF 50 percent (15-of-30).

Both teams were 3-for-3 from the charity stripe but the Oilers were 5-of-9 from beyond the arc compared to 2-of-5 for the Warriors. Hollingsworth led Wayne State with 11 first half points.

Findlay increased its lead to double digits by outscoring WSU 13-8 over the first six minutes of the second half.

An 8-2 Warrior run cut the deficit to four, and following a pair of UF free throws, Hollingsworth scored four points in less than 30 seconds to make it a two-point contest.

After two more UF foul shots, back-to-back buckets by Udanoh and Hollingsworth knotted the game at 57 with 9:17 remaining.

UF answered with a 7-0 spurt, but Wayne State answered with an 8-2 run to pull within one at 66-65 with 3:15 left. The teams traded baskets until Hyde made two free throws in a double bonus situation with 29.8 seconds left which gave Findlay a 72-69 lead.

Senior guard Bryan Smothers (Pontiac, Mich./Northern) grabbed the offensive rebound of a Hollingsworth missed triple try and was fouled. After Smothers made both foul shots in a double bonus situation, UF's Kyle Caiola split a pair from the charity stripe pushing the Oiler to lead to 73-71.

After a timeout, Smothers long two-point try bounced off the front of the rim.

WSU again made 14-of-26 from the floor in the final 20 minutes, just as it did in the first half.

Hollingsworth scored a team-high 23 points to lead four Warriors in double figures. Udanoh tallied 16, two shy of his season best, while Smothers and Oden contributed 11 and 10, respectively.

Oden grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, while Smothers equaled a career-best with 10 assists.
Hyde led all scorers with 24 points.

Wayne State out-rebounded the hosts 32-21, and out-scored the Oilers 17-5 on second chance points.

The Warriors committed 22 turnovers which led to 22 Findlay points.

Wayne State returns to the Matthaei for a 6 p.m. tip on Thursday against Tiffin, its only home game in this stretch of five of six contests on the road.