Men's Basketball 2/23/2023 7:06:00 AM Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Men's Hoops Travels to Parkside and Purdue Northwest To Conclude Regular Season

Warriors looking to earn a spot in the GLIAC Tournament.

STORYLINES
Wayne State will play its final two games of the 2022-23 regular season this week when it travels to Parkside on Thursday for an 8:30 p.m. ET tip and Purdue Northwest on Saturday for a 4 p.m. ET start. The Warriors are currently sitting in seventh place in the GLIAC standings and the top eight teams will make the league tournament, which is set to begin on Wednesday, March 1.

Parkside, winners in six of its last seven games, has lost just two contests at home all season (12-2) and won 10 of the last 11 inside the friendly confines of DeSimone Arena. Meanwhile, Purdue Northwest has dropped five outings in a row, but owns an above-.500 record at home of 8-6.

THE SERIES
Parkside leads the all-time series with Wayne State by five, 14-9, and has won nine of 12 games between the two teams on the Rangers' home floor. The Warriors and Rangers have split their last eight head-to-head meetings and neither team has won two in a row since Parkside joined the GLIAC (UWP leads 5-4 in that span).

Wayne State has been victorious in eight of 11 all-time meetings with Purdue Northwest, but has gone just 1-3 when playing on the Pride's home court. The Warriors will be looking for their first win in Hammond since the first-ever meeting between the two squads on Dec. 2, 2017.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Parkside is paced by one of the most dynamic players in the GLIAC in Rasheed Bello. Among the league's best, Bello is first in both minutes and steals, second in field goals made and total points, third in points per game and assists, sixth in free throws made, seventh in three-point field goal percentage, and ninth in both three-pointers made and total rebounds.

Bello (18.4 PPG) is one of four players averaging at least 10 points per game for UWP along with Jamir Simpson (14.5), Colin O'Rourke (11.9), and Josiah Palmer (11.6).

Rebounding wise, the Rangers are led by Simpson's 6.0 boards per contest, which is tied-for-sixth in the league. Bello also dishes out 4.6 assists per outing, a number that is slotted fourth in the conference.

Luke Reigel has compiled a 294-263 record in his 20th season leading the Rangers.

Purdue Northwest, the third-highest scoring team in the GLIAC (76.3 PPG), boasts three scorers averaging double figures including Mikell Cooper (16.6 PPG), Alou Dillon (16.5) and Anthony Barnard (10.5).

Dillon has a team-high 136 rebounds (5.2 RPG), while Cooper has dished out a team-best 63 assists.

Boomer Roberts is in his fifth season at Purdue Northwest and has an overall record of 43-83.

LAST GAME RECAP
The game was tied three times in the first 7:20 with neither team holding more than a three-point advantage - WSU led 9-6 on a bucket by Matt Coffey. The Lakers scored the next 15 points to grab a 21-9 lead as the Warriors were scoreless for over four minutes.

GVSU had a 16-point margin (29-13) before a pair of free throws by Kaimen Lennox with 5:30 remaining in the first half. The visitors lead remained between 12 and 15 points until late in the opening stanza when WSU scored the final four points before intermission to trail by 11 (38-27) after 20 minutes.

Wayne State tallied the first five points of the second half to reduce its deficit to six (38-32) following a lay-up by Lennox and a triple by Kylin Grant. WSU trailed by 12 (49-37) with 15 minutes left and then by 11 (51-40) with just under 12 minutes remaining.

The Warriors mounted a comeback starting with a conventional three-point play by Nate Talbot and then Talbot grabbed an offensive rebound and scored cutting the margin to six (51-45). After a GVSU basket, Coffey converted an old-fashioned three-point play, then on the ensuing offensive possession, Ray Williams, Jr. made a jumper following an offensive rebound making it a three-point contest (53-50) with 7:45 left.

WSU again trailed by three (59-56) with 4:25 remaining after two free throws by Williams. After a mini 4-0 run by the Lakers, Justice Gordon drained a triple at the two-minute mark making it 63-59. Grand Valley answered with the next four points prior to a long-range shot by Lennox cutting the margin to five (67-62) with 0:55 remaining.

A triple by Lennox with seven seconds left pulled the Warriors to within three (70-67), but GVSU's Trevor Smith made the first of two free throws to complete the scoring.

Wayne State shot 38 percent (24-of-64) from the floor, while GVSU connected on 25-of-59 field goal attempts (42 percent). WSU made just 7-of-25 triple tries (28 percent) compared to the Lakers 41 percent (7-of-17). The Warriors were just 12-of-18 (67 percent) from the charity stripe, with Grand Valley making 70 percent (14-of-20) of its foul shots. GVSU had a 43-41 edge in rebounding, while the Lakers held a 40-11 advantage in bench scoring along with a 17-9 margin in fast-break points.

WARRIOR UPDATE
Wayne State continues to be lead by a trio of scorers averaging at least 10 points per game including Antonio Marshall (14.7 PPG, 16.3 PPG in GLIAC play), Avery Lewis (14.1 PPG, 14.8 PPG in GLIAC play) and Carmelo Harris (13.3 PPG, 11.6 PPG in GLIAC play).

Lewis is the team's top rebounder with 6.7 boards per contest, which leads the conference.

Defensively, the Warriors leader for both blocks and steals is Marshall with 12 blocks and 30 steals, respectively.

Efficiency wise, Lewis is the leader in field goal percentage (49.0 percent), Marshall for three-point field goal percentage (36.9) and Harris for free throw percentage (86.7 - first in the GLIAC).

INTRODUCING COACH SMOTHERS
Wayne State officially began a new era in the men's basketball program in November as 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Bryan Smothers became just the second former WSU student-athlete to lead the program (joining Newman Ertell who lettered from 1921-25, then became head coach in 1929 for the College of the City of Detroit).

Smothers is the 11th head coach (including interim) since Detroit Junior College began playing basketball in January of 1918.

The 2022-23 campaign is the 105th season of Wayne State basketball (no games were played in 1943-44 due to World War II).

LIVE ON WDTK
Kevin Brechmacher will call every Wayne State contest live on WDTK - The Patriot (1400 AM / 101.5 FM). Fans can also stream the action online at PatriotDetroit.com.

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Players Mentioned

#44 Matt Coffey: C; 6' 8"; Freshman

#3 Justice Gordon: G; 6' 4"; Freshman

#5 Kylin Grant: F; 6' 6"; Senior

#11 Carmelo Harris: G; 5' 11"; Freshman

#22 Kaimen Lennox: G; 6' 2"; Junior

#33 Avery Lewis: F; 6' 6"; Redshirt Senior

#1 Antonio Marshall: G; 6' 4"; Redshirt Senior

#20 Nate Talbot: F; 6' 10"; Senior

#23 Ray Williams, Jr.: G/F; 6' 5"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#44 Matt Coffey
: 6' 8"; Freshman
: C

#3 Justice Gordon
: 6' 4"; Freshman
: G

#5 Kylin Grant
: 6' 6"; Senior
: F

#11 Carmelo Harris
: 5' 11"; Freshman
: G

#22 Kaimen Lennox
: 6' 2"; Junior
: G

#33 Avery Lewis
: 6' 6"; Redshirt Senior
: F

#1 Antonio Marshall
: 6' 4"; Redshirt Senior
: G

#20 Nate Talbot
: 6' 10"; Senior
: F

#23 Ray Williams, Jr.
: 6' 5"; Junior
: G/F