Wayne State Men's Basketball Weekly Release

2012-13 RECORDS:
#28-Wayne State 17-6 overall, 16-4 GLIAC
Walsh 16-8 overall, 12-8 GLIAC
Lake Superior 13-12 overall, 10-11 GLIAC

SERIES:
First meeting between WSU and Walsh
Wayne State leads Lake Superior 42-21

LAST MEETINGS:
NA vs. Walsh
WSU won 87-81 at home vs. LSSU on Feb. 2, 2013

WEEK 14 STORYLINES

Wayne State enters the final week of the regular season needing one victory to secure the top seed for the GLIAC tournament for the first time since the 1998-99 campaign.

WSU will square off against Walsh for the first time in men's basketball on Wednesday, before venturing to Sault Ste. Marie to face the LSSU Lakers on Saturday.

The Warriors will begin GLIAC tournament play at home on Wednesday, March 6th.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Wednesday's contest will be the first meeting between WSU and Walsh in men's basketball.

The Warriors have won the last two meetings vs. the Lakers including the last contest in the U.P. (76-54 on 2-23-11).  WSU is 18-13 all-time at Cooper Gymnasium.

LAST WEEK

Wayne State won both games last week to secure a home playoff game and remain in first place in the GLIAC overall standings.

In the 56-53 triumph over Ferris State, WSU never led for the first 19 minutes of the game until an offensive rebound and dunk by Ian Larkin in the last 35 seconds before intermission snapped a 29-29 deadlock.

A 6-1 run by Ferris gave the visitors its largest lead of the second half (42-37) with 11:17 left.  Jumpers by Mike Hollingsworth and Larkin, along with another Larkin hoop cut the WSU deficit to one (44-43) at the 9:45 mark.

Hollingsworth drained a three-pointer to knot the game at 46 at the 7:08 mark.  Over the final seven minutes, FSU went 3-of-12 from the floor with two turnovers including 1-of-5 from beyond the arc.  Meanwhile, WSU connected on 3-of-7 field goal attempts and 4-of-7 from the foul line, and never trailed after Larkin split a pair from the charity stripe at the 5:04 mark snapping the 46-46 draw.

Larkin finished with a game-high 26 points and tied for team-high rebounds honors with Jamar Ragland at seven boards each.

Wayne State moved within one win of claiming the 2012-13 GLIAC regular-season title with a 75-57 triumph Saturday afternoon at Grand Valley.

The contest was tight in the early going with five ties in the first eight minutes.  WSU led 33-28 at the intermission as both teams shot well in the opening 20 minutes – 54 percent (13-of-24) for WSU, and GVSU shot 57 percent (12-of-21) from the floor.

A Larkin dunk pushed the Warrior advantage to 14 (55-41) with 11:38 left.  After a steal by Bryan Coleman, Larkin sank two from the foul line.  GVSU would only get as close as 11 points (61-50) at the 7:27 mark the rest of the game.

Hollingsworth scored a game-high 19 points, his best game since returning to action.  Larkin added 17 points.

SCOUTING WALSH

The Cavaliers have lost two straight after a three-game winning streak.

Senior forward Kenny Kornowski leads the team in scoring (20.1 points per game) and rebounding (9.1 rebounds per game).

Sophomore guard Rian Burrell is second in scoring (12.9 ppg), while sophomore forward Jeff Copeland is third in scoring (10.0 ppg) and leads the squad with 25 blocked shots.

Junior guard Brad Dupont has team-best totals of 88 assists and 48 steals, while junior guard Ryan Vanderhorst has connected on a WU-high 43 triples.

The Cavaliers lead the GLIAC in scoring (80.0 ppg), defensive rebounding (27.0 rpg), total rebounding (38.4 rpg) and field goals made per game (29.8).

SCOUTING LAKE SUPERIOR

LSSU enters Saturday's game having lost four of its last five contests.

Junior guard Derek Billing leads LSSU in scoring (15.6 points per game), triples (64) and steals (51).

Senior forward Derek Kinney has team-high totals in rebounding (8.0 rpg) and blocked shots (16), while ranking second in scoring (14.6 ppg).

Sophomore guard Tony Davis and Billing are tied for the team lead with 73 assists.

Sophomore guard Alex Williams has connected on 62 three-pointers and is third in scoring at 11.4 ppg.

Junior forward Cameron Metz is second in rebounding (4.6 rpg).

LSSU is second in the GLIAC in both three-point percentage (39.3) and assists (15.1).

IN THE RANKINGS

Wayne State is ranked 16th nationally in the most recent Massey Ratings, which were released on Feb. 24.

All three of WSU's non-league foes are ranked in the top 25 - Drury (6th), Bellarmine (11th) and Lewis (20th).

Nine of the top 27 squads nationally are from the Midwest Region - Wisconsin-Parkside (15), Michigan Tech (17), Southern Indiana (19), Kentucky Wesleyan (21) and Indianapolis (27).

ON THE WAYNE STATE BENCH

David Greer is in his 12th season as the WSU men's basketball head coach.  Greer has a 184-144 record with the Warriors and is the fifth-longest tenured head coach in WSU men's basketball history.

Greer trails the legendary Joel Mason (1948-66) by two wins (186-184) for second place all-time at WSU.  Mason led the 1956 Tartar squad to an NCAA tournament win over DePaul before a setback to Kentucky.

ON THE OPPOSING BENCH

Jeff Young is in his ninth year at Walsh and has compiled a 240-52 record.  Walsh made seven straight trips to the NAIA National Tournament, won a national title in 2005, and finished as runners-up in 2010.

Lake Superior's Steve Hettinga has a 87-78 mark in his sixth year with the Lakers.  His 14-year collegiate head coaching records stands at 182-185, which includes eight years at Olivet.