Men's Basketball Game Notes # 1


2011-12 RECORDS
Wayne State (1-1)
Northeastern State (0-5)
Drury (2-1)

SERIES: First Meetings

RADIO: WDTK (1400 AM)

ONLINE AUDIO: wdtkam.com

LIVE STATS: www.sidearmstats.com/drury/mbball/index.htm


DRURY THANKSGIVING CLASSIC STORYLINES
After dropping its first home opener since 1990 to defending national champion and #1 Bellarmine University, 92-80, on Nov. 17, the Wayne State men's basketball team cruised to a 96-50 victory over Marygrove College on Monday evening.

The Warriors take their 1-1 record on the road traveling to Springfield, Mo. for back-to-back contests against Northeastern State University (0-5) on Friday and host Drury University (2-1) on Saturday.


ALL-TIME SERIES
This will be the first meeting between Wayne State, Northeastern State and Drury.


MARYGROVE RECAP
For the seventh straight time, the Warriors defeated Marygrove posting a 96-50 win over the Mustangs.
Senior center Ike Udanoh posted game-highs in points (22) and rebounds (12). Junior forward Ian Larkin added 18 points and collected nine rebounds, while junior guard Mike Hollingsworth chipped in 16 points.

The Warriors scored the first 10 points of the contest and held the visiting Mustangs without a field goal for the first five minutes. Udanoh and Hollingsworth each scored four points during WSU's opening run.

A jumper by MC's Omar Thomas at the 14:49 mark made it 14-3, but Hollingsworth and senior guard Stacey Waters answered with back-to-back triples. Justin Armstrong scored down low to make it a 15-point game at 20-5 with 12:18 left before intermission.  Wayne State went on an 8-4 run to open a 19-point advantage at 28-9 with just over eight minutes remaining.

Three Warriors scored in double figures during the first 20 minutes led by 14 points from Larkin. Udanoh had 12 with
Hollingsworth chipping in with 11.

Wayne State scored eight of the first nine points of the second half for a 54-22 lead with 16:20 remaining.  WSU outscored the Mustangs 42-28 the rest of the way.

Waters tallied 15 points off the bench and sophomore forward Gerald Williams-Taylor added 10 points. Junior guard Cole Prophet had nine assists, six points and three steals for WSU.

Wayne State forced 25 turnovers and had 23 assists to 14 turnovers.  The Warriors held a 37-28 advantage on the boards, while limiting the Mustangs to 35 percent (17-of-48) from the floor.  WSU shot 70 percent (19-of-27) in the second half and finished the contest at 58 percent (37-of-64).


ON THE BENCH
David Greer, just the ninth head coach in 94 years of WSU basketball, is in his 11th season at WSU with a 150-130 record.

He is the fifth-longest tenured coach at WSU. The 22 victories by the Warriors in 2010-11 were the most under Greer and the highest total since the 1998-99 NCAA qualifying squad compiled a 25-5 record. Wayne State's 14 GLIAC wins last year are the most since the same 1998-99 team took first place in the conference with a 16-3 mark.

In his 15th season as the head mentor of Northeastern State, Larry Gipson is 240-158. Gipson has a 525-318 overall coaching record.

Eight-year head coach Steve Hesser is 149-61 during his tutelage at Drury University.


SCOUTING NORTHEASTERN STATE
Northeastern State enters Friday's game winless after dropping its first five contests. However, the River Hawks suffered those losses by an average of 4.4 points.

Most recently, NSU fell to Missouri Southern on Tuesday, 68-66, in Kansas City, Mo. Sophomore guard Landon DeMasters led the River Hawks in defeat with 20 points and eight rebounds, while junior forward Jon Miller added 13 points and sophomore guard Dee Willis chipped in 12 points.

On the season, Miller leads the team in scoring averaging 10.4 points per game. He shoots 34.6 percent (18-of-52) from the floor and 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from the three-point line along with compiling a 75.0 percent mark from the free-throw line.

DeMasters is second on the squad in scoring (8.4 ppg) and third on the team in rebounding (4.3 rpg). Willis is the River Hawks' leading assist getter averaging 2.4 per game.

As a team, NSU scores 55.8 points a game, while giving up 60.2.


SCOUTING DRURY
After splitting its first two games, Drury (2-1) moved above .500 following an 87-74 home victory over Texas A&M University-Commerce on Monday. The Panthers will host Salem International University on Friday at 6 p.m. EST prior to the WSU-NSU matchup at 8:15 p.m.

In Monday's win, junior guard Alex Hall tallied 23 points and dished out four assists, while senior guard Dennon Mitchell garnered 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman forward Cameron Adams chipped in 13 points and junior guard Brandon Lockhart added 10.

Shooting 50 percent (18-of-36) from the field and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from behind the arc, Hall leads the Panthers in scoring (17.3 ppg). He also makes 88.9 percent (8-of-9) of his free throw attempts. In addition to averaging 13.7 points per game, Lockhart is first on the team in assists per game 4.7.

As a team,  Drury averages 83.3 points per game, while giving up 74.0.