Box Score

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DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball squad (11-8 overall, 9-7 GLIAC) won for the fourth time in the last five contests outscoring visiting Northwood University (15-9 overall, 11-5 GLIAC) 89-72 Thursday night at the Matthaei.  The WSU men's team wore pink laces as the Department of Athletics had its annual Pink Out night in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.

The Warriors tallied nine of the game's first 11 points with the only tie at 2-2 as a jumper by senior forward Bryan Coleman (Southfield, Mich./Lathrup) was answered with a tip-in by NU's Will Bowles.  A triple by freshman guard Clark Bishop (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) was sandwiched around a made free throw and a lay-up by senior forward Gerald Williams-Taylor (Flint, Mich./Northern).  Coleman finished off the run with the first of his three triples on the night.

A 12-6 run by the Timberwolves cut the WSU advantage to three (17-14) at the 11:03 mark, but the Warriors responded with an 11-1 spurt over the next 4:30 pushing the margin to 13 (28-15) with 6:22 left before halftime.  Four different Wayne State players scored during the stretch which started with a jumper by Williams-Taylor, an offensive put-back by senior center Michael Martin (W. Bloomfield, Mich.) and a jumper by Bishop.  Coleman drained another three-pointer and after Bowles split a pair from the charity stripe, Coleman made both foul shots.

Back-to-back triples by Northwood in the final 3:10 reduced the Wayne State lead to eight (36-28) with 1:53 remaining before intermission, but the Warriors ended the opening 20 minutes on an 8-4 for a 12-point halftime lead (44-32).

WSU took five more shots from the field in the first half and made six more shooting 56 percent (18-of-32) compared to 44 percent (12-of-27) for Northwood.  Wayne State had a 4-3 edge in three-pointers made and in rebounding (19-13).

Coleman had 13 points at the break to lead all scorers, while NU's Khalid King had 10 points.

Senior guard Chene Phillips (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance) started the second half with a conventional three-point play, before the Timberwolves began chipping away outscoring the hosts 20-10 over a six-minute period cutting the WSU lead to five (57-52).

Over the next seven minutes, Wayne State pushed its lead to 14 by going on an 18-9 run.  Five different WSU players scored during the spurt including Coleman with eight and a jumper by sophomore guard Gavin Toma (Troy, Mich/Southfield Christian).  Northwood was never within double digits the rest of the game.

Coleman and Phillips led WSU with 23 and 22 points, respectively.  Bishop added 15 points and Williams-Taylor chipped in with 13 points.  Phillips flirted with another triple-double as he tallied 11 assists (two only two turnovers) and seven defensive rebounds.

Martin contributed eight points and 10 rebounds with one steal in 21 minutes.

NU's Wes Wilcox led all scorers with 27 points.  Dylan Langkabel had a team-best eight rebounds along with 12 points for Northwood.

Wayne State will be at home on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip against Saginaw Valley.