DETROIT – The Wayne State University men's basketball team (8-5 overall, 6-2 GLIAC) moved into a tie-for-third in the GLIAC standings with a 74-57 home court victory over Saginaw Valley State University (5-11 overall, 2-6 GLIAC) Thursday evening at the Matthaei.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The score was tied five times in the first seven minutes with the Cardinals never holding more than a two-point advantage.

An 18-2 run by the Warriors turned a 10-8 deficit into a 26-12 lead with just over 6:30 remaining before intermission.  Sophomore Karim Murray (Detroit, Mich. / Western International) tallied eight points during the spurt to key the WSU offense.

Saginaw Valley State ended the opening half on a 17-7 run to pull within four (33-29) at the break.

Wayne State scored the first four points of the second half on a pair of free throws by junior Latin Davis, Jr. (Ypsilanti, Mich. / Milan) and a bucket by senior Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech).  SVSU tallied the next five points to cut the Warrior advantage to three (37-34) with 15:46 left, but that would be as close as the guests would get.

A 10-2 run by Wayne State pushed the lead to 11 (47-36) with 13:32 left.  Saginaw Valley would get no closer than six (48-42) the rest of the way.  The Warriors then scored 17 of the next 21 points to lead 65-46 with 5:14 remaining.

TEAM STATS

Wayne State shot 42 percent (28-of-67) from the floor, compared to 35 percent (21-of-60) for SVSU.  Wayne State was 0-for-13 from beyond the arc, while the Cardinals were just 2-of-13 (15 percent).  The Warriors were 18-of-26 (69 percent) from the charity stripe with Saginaw Valley converting 13 of its 15 free throw shots (87 percent).  Both teams had 41 rebounds in the contest, with Wayne State having 12 turnovers to SVSU's 23 miscues.

LEADING THE WARRIORS

Three players nearly had double-doubles led by senior George Spencer (Detroit, Mich. / Belleville) with a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds.  Key contributed 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, while senior Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) chipped in with 10 points, a team-best nine rebounds and a game-high three assists.  Murray finished with 11 points, while senior Ronald Booth (Detroit, Mich. / Consortium) had 10 points giving the Warriors five players in double figures.

LEADING THE CARDINALS

Mike Wells, Jr. tallied a game-high 22 points.  Fred John, Jr. recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-best 11 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Wayne State will play its final road game of January with a 6 p.m. tip-off Saturday at Northwood.