DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball program (9-8, 7-5 GLIAC) will conclude a four-game home stand on Thursday night against Ashland (15-5, 8-4 GLIAC) before making its final trip to Tiffin (6-14, 2-10 GLIAC) as GLIAC counterparts on Saturday afternoon.

STORYLINES
After consecutive games where Wayne State's opponents used strong second halves to overcome halftime deficits, the Warriors put together two strong periods on Saturday to top Davenport, ending a three-game losing streak.  WSU is tied-for-fifth in the GLIAC standings.  Wayne State will conclude a four-game home stand on Thursday against Ashland before making its final trip to Tiffin as the Dragons are leaving for the G-MAC.

THE SERIES
Wayne State leads 30-25 in the all-time series against Ashland, including a 19-9 mark in Detroit.  However, AU has won six of the last seven meetings.  The Eagles took the season's first matchup 70-48 in Ohio.  Head coach David Greer is 17-13 in is time at Wayne State versus Ashland.  WSU also leads the all-time series against Tiffin, 17-3, including an 8-2 mark on the road.  The Warriors have won four of the last five meetings and took the season's first contest, 58-56, in Detroit.  Coach Greer is 15-3 (7-2 at Tiffin) in his 17-plus seasons with the Green & Gold.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Ashland is 15-5 overall and tied-for-third with Northern Michigan in the GLIAC standings at 8-4.  The Eagles avoided a three-game losing streak with an 87-65 win over Tiffin on Saturday.  Head coach John Ellenwood is in his ninth season at the helm.  Redshirt senior forward Wendell Davis is scoring 21.0 points per game, while sophomore center Drew Noble leads the team with 8.4 rebounds per contest.  Davis also leads the team with 3.8 assists per night.  Tiffin has lost five straight coming into the week and is 6-14 overall.  The Dragons are 2-10 in league games and at the bottom of the GLIAC South Division standings.  Head coach Jerry Buccilla is in his fifth season and looks to junior Austin Adams and senior Alex Brown to lead his squad.  Brown is scoring 14.5 points per game, grabbing 5.0 boards per contest and dishing out 2.8 assists per night.  Adams is averaging 14.2 point and a team-best 7.6 rebounds per game.

LAST TIME OUT
Wayne State ended the first half on a 6-1 run, capped by a three-point buzzer-beater from Ronald Booth, giving the Warriors a 32-25 lead at intermission.  WSU began the second half with four quick points to push its lead to 36-25 at the 17:59 mark.  A fast break bucket from Booth and a nifty pass from Marcus Moore found Chuck Key extending the Warriors advantage to 40-28 with 16:10 remaining.  Davenport pulled within single digits, 44-35, at the 13:17 mark on a layup from Janeau Joubert.  Darian Owens-White connected from deep to keep WSU up by double-digits, 52-41, with 7:23 left to play.  A three-point play from DU's Robbie Bramhill cut the home lead to 56-47 but that would be as close as the Panthers would come down the stretch and WSU would go on to win 71-56.  George Spencer matched his career-high with 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Booth finished with 17 points.  Moore tallied 12 points and Latin Davis, Jr. collected a career-best 11 boards.

STARTING FIVE
Wayne State has introduced the same starting five in all 17 games this season.  The quintet have all scored in double-digits on four occasions - Kentucky Wesleyan, the league-opening win over Grand Valley State, the loss at Ferris State and last Saturday's defeat against Northern Michigan.  Four of the five accomplished the feat at Purdue Northwest, at Northwood and at Davenport with a reserve (Karim Murray) scoring double digits in the SVSU contest.  Five WSU starters have scored 1,024 of the 1,148 total points WSU has scored this season, or 89 percent.

KEY HOME STAND
Wayne State will look to end the four-game home stand with two victories after dropping the first two contests to Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan.  The Warriors topped Davenport on Saturday to end a three-game losing streak.  Five of the Green & Gold's final seven games are on the road.  Currently, WSU is fifth in the GLIAC standings at 7-5.  The top eight teams advance to the postseason.

DEFENSE WINNING GAMES
Wayne State is second in the GLIAC in scoring defense, allowing 67.9 points per game.  The Warriors had allowed more than 73 points in a game just once this season, prior to both Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan surpassing the mark.  After limiting Ferris State to 33 points in the first 21:30, the Bulldogs exploded for 53 points over the final 18:30 minutes on Jan. 4th.

KNOCK ON WOOD
George Spencer has made 18 consecutive free throws dating back to the Jan. 11th game vs. Saginaw Valley State, including a 7-for-7 performance against Davenport to help him match his career-high of 23 points.  Ronald Booth has made 23 of his last 24 attempts from the charity stripe.  Booth ranks second in the league with a .851 free throw percentage, while Spencer is sixth at .829.

NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS
In the latest NCAA stat release, Wayne State ranks 11th in fewest turnovers (202), 23rd in defending the three-pointer (.314) and 28th in scoring defense (67.9 PPG).  WSU has played six teams that have double-digit win totals (Bellarmine at 18-2, Ferris State at 21-1, Lake Superior State at 15-5, Alderson Broaddus at 14-7, Ashland at 15-5, and Northern Michigan at 11-8).  Just two of WSU's losses are against teams currently under .500 (Lewis is at 10-11 and NU is at 9-11).  To date, WSU has played the 121st toughest schedule (out of 312 schools) with an opponent's winning percentage of .518 (144-134).  That strength of schedule ranks fifth in the GLIAC.

900 CLUB
A pair of Warriors have surpassed the 900-point plateau this season, with senior Ronald Booth leading the way.  Booth is 17th in career scoring with 1,041 career points and become the 18th player in WSU history with 1,000 points in January.  He is the fourth under Coach Greer joining Bryan Smothers (1,175), Kendall LeSure (1,068) and Ian Larkin (1,022) to accomplish the feat.

Senior Chuck Key has 936 points, while classmate Marcus Moore has 881 career points.

HISTORICAL VICTORY
Earlier this season, the men's basketball program won its 800th game (76-73 over GVSU) as Wayne State University (1956-present).  In the 100 years of basketball, WSU has won 1,221 games (first 60 as Detroit Junior College [1918-23], 120 as College of the City of Detroit/CCD [1924-34], and 235 as Wayne University [1934-56]).

ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS
A couple of Warriors are in the top 70 in terms of active career leaders within Division II.  Marcus Moore ranks 34th in steals (134) and 36th in assists (336), while Ronald Booth is 66th with his 15.3 points per game average.

MOST IMPROVED TEAMS
Wayne State was one of the most improved teams in the country last season, adding nine wins from its 2015-16 total and subtracting eight losses.  

COMCAST/XFINITY
Every home men's basketball game in 2018 will be aired live throughout the state of Michigan on Comcast/CN 900.  Sean Baligian (play-by-play), Rod Beard (analyst) and Joe Abramson (sideline) will call the action.

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every contest live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM).  Fans can also stream the action online at PatriotDetroit.com.  WSU alum Kendall LeSure, who played at Wayne State from 2000-04, joins Brechmacher for home games.