Wayne State Men's Basketball Game Notes

2012-13 RECORDS:
Wayne State 17-8 overall, 16-6 GLIAC
Lake Superior 14-12 overall, 11-11 GLIAC

SERIES:
Wayne State leads Lake Superior 42-22

LAST MEETINGS:
WSU won 87-81 at home vs. LSSU on Feb. 2, 2013
LSSU won 72-70 at home on March 2, 2013

WEEK 15 STORYLINES

Wayne State enters the “second” season facing a familiar foe in Lake Superior.  The Warriors earned the No. 1 seed for the GLIAC tournament despite dropping two road contests last week by a combined five points.

If WSU wins Wednesday's GLIAC tournament quarterfinal game, the Warriors will host the GLIAC semifinals (Saturday, March 9) and championship game (Sunday, March 10).

ALL-TIME SERIES

The Warriors had won the previous two meetings vs. the Lakers until Saturday's setback.  Wayne State has a 24-8 mark at home vs. LSSU.
    
LAST WEEK

Wayne State suffered a pair of close losses but still managed to earn a share of the GLIAC regular-season title.

The Warriors dropped an 81-78 decision at Walsh on Feb. 27.

Cavalier senior forward Kenny Kornowski scored a game-high 31 points including 21 of Walsh's final 25 points.  He also totaled a game-best 11 rebounds.

WSU led 4-0 early on, but trailed 40-36 at the break as the Cavaliers shot 49 percent from the field on 15-of-31 in the opening 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Warriors shot 59 percent (16-of-27), but had an uncharacteristic eight turnovers.  Mike Hollingsworth had a game-high 13 points at the break on 5-of-5 from the field.

Jamar Ragland tallied a career-high 15 points off the bench for WSU, who trailed 72-71 with 5:11 left after a jumper by Cole Propet but Kornowski scored the next four points.  Two free throws by Hollingsworth and a baseline drive jumper sandwiched around a Walsh foul shot by Brad DuPont made it a two-point game at 77-75 with 57.9 remaining.

After a bucket by Kornowski, Gerald Williams-Taylor split a pair from the charity stripe with Hollingsworth grabbing a long rebound and was immediately fouled.  He sank both free throws in a one-and-one situation making it a one-point game at 79-78 with 13.8 seconds left.

Kornowski made two free throws in a double bonus situation with 9.3 seconds left.  Hollingsworth's long triple try bounced off the rim at the buzzer.

Despite dropping a two-point contest, 72-70, at Lake Superior Saturday afternoon, Wayne State still earned the No. 1 seed for the league tournament.

WSU took an early 2-0 lead, but the Lakers responded with a 9-0 run as the Warriors went over three minutes without a point.

Wayne State had a 9-2 run to pull within one 29-28 on a triple by Ian Larkin.

Lake Superior had an 8-6 scoring edge the rest of the half for a 37-34 lead at intermission.

The Lakers led by 11 (65-54) before a 10-3 Warrior run cut the deficit to four (68-64) with 2:36 left.  A triple by LSSU's Alex Williams with 5:02 remaining was the last made field goal for the hosts.

During the field goal drought for the Lakers, they had seven turnovers and were 3-of-6 from the foul line as WSU rallied to within two points (71-69) when Hollingsworth was fouled with 7.3 seconds left.  Chene Phillips triple try at the buzzer was off the mark.

Prophet led WSU with 16 points and five assists, while Larkin added 14 points.

SCOUTING LAKE SUPERIOR

LSSU enters tonight's game having lost four of its last six contests.

Junior guard Derek Billing leads LSSU in scoring (15.2 points per game), triples (64) and steals (52).

Senior forward Derek Kinney has team-high totals in rebounding (8.1 rpg) and blocked shots (17), while ranking second in scoring (14.9 ppg).

Sophomore guard Tony Harris and Billing are tied for the team lead with 76 assists.

Sophomore guard Alex Williams has connected on 63 three-pointers and is third in scoring at 11.3 ppg.

Junior forward Cameron Metz is second in rebounding (4.8 rpg).

LSSU is second in the GLIAC in both three-point percentage (39.1) and assists (15.2).

IN THE RANKINGS

Wayne State is ranked 21st nationally in the most recent Massey Ratings, which were released on March 6.

All three of WSU's non-league foes are ranked in the top 20 - Drury (6th), Bellarmine (12th) and Lewis (18th).

Eleven of the top 28 squads nationally are from the Midwest Region - Michigan Tech (13), Southern Indiana (17), Wisconsin-Parkside (19), Kentucky Wesleyan (23), Indianapolis (25), Findlay (26) and Grand Valley (28).

ON THE WAYNE STATE BENCH

David Greer is in his 12th season as the WSU men's basketball head coach.  Greer has a 184-146 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

Lake Superior's Steve Hettinga has a 88-78 mark in his sixth year with the Lakers.  His 14-year collegiate head coaching records stands at 183-185, which includes eight years at Olivet.