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Wayne State University Athletics

Ray Williams, Jr. 2024 vs. Purdue Northwest
Marissa Krynak
Ray Williams, Jr. scored a team-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field.
68
Purdue Northwest Pur-NW 7-6,1-2 GLIAC
78
Winner Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 7-5,1-2 GLIAC
Purdue Northwest Pur-NW
7-6,1-2 GLIAC
68
Final
78
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne
7-5,1-2 GLIAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Purdue Northwest Pur-NW 41 27 68
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 35 43 78

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Cooper Weidenthaler, Sports Communications Specialist

Big Second Half Propels Men's Basketball to Victory Over Purdue Northwest

The Warriors outscored the Pride 43-27 in the final 20 minutes.

DETROIT -- It was a tale of two halves on Thursday night in the first home conference game of the season for Wayne State University men's basketball (7-5 overall, 1-2 GLIAC) against Purdue Northwest (7-6 overall, 1-2 GLIAC).  Coming out of halftime down by six, 41-35, the Warriors outscored the Pride 43-27 in the second half en route to a 10-point victory, 78-68.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Purdue Northwest scored the game's first six points and led by that many again at both 9-3 and 11-5.  Wayne State then answered with six straight points of their own to tie the score for the first time at 11-11.  Carmelo Harris (Flint, Mich. / Beecher) snapped the Pride's opening run and Ray Williams, Jr. (Detroit, Mich. / Edison Public School Academy) capped off the six in a row.

The home team's first advantage of the night came at the 13:38 mark when Jordan Briggs (Muskegon, Mich.) converted a layup to put his team ahead 14-13.  Following a two-point answer by the visitors, Colin Golson, Jr. (Detroit, Mich. / Ferndale (Siena / Eastern Michigan)) made a lay-up of his own to give WSU a 16-15 edge, the team's final lead of the first half.

From there until the final buzzer of the first half, PNW never led by more than six, but reached that mark six different times in just over 11 minutes of game time.

Second Half
Purdue Northwest captured its biggest lead of the night at eight, 43-35, thanks to a jumper in the paint within the first two minutes of the second half.  Wayne State began to feel it though and deadlocked the score for a second time at 46-46 following an 11-3 run that lasted just under five minutes.  During that span, Williams, Jr. was responsible for seven points while Matt Coffey (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King) chipped in with four points.

After a Pride lay-up, Harris hit another of his game-high three triples, the Warriors regained the lead 49-48 and didn't look back.  WSU would go on to lead by as many as 10 for three different instances including 66-56, 68-58 and 78-68 for the final tally.

PNW came within five, 70-65, with just over two minutes to go before the hosts registered eight of the game's final 11 points to pull away in the end.

TEAM STATS
Purdue Northwest was the better team in the first half shooting 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the field to Wayne State's 48.3 percent (14-of-29).  Flip the script out of the intermission though as the Warriors shot 55.2 percent (16-of-29) to the Pride's 46.2 percent (12-of-26).  PNW's assist-to-turnover ratio was even at 13-13 while WSU racked up 17 helpers to just 10 giveaways.  The home team also handled its visitors in points off turnovers (23-5) and bench scoring (31-17).

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Williams, Jr. scored a team-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go with five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.  Also scoring in double figures for Wayne State was Harris with 15, nine of which came from behind the arc.  Kareem Aburashed (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Detroit Country Day (Macomb CC)) finished with eight points, all of which came in the second half, joined by six boards and three blocks.  Tamario Adley (Detroit, Mich. / Warren De La Salle (Macomb CC)) was on top of the assist department with six, while Golson, Jr. notched a pair of steals.

LEADING THE PRIDE
CJ Jackson led all scorers with 20 points and was one of four Pride players to score 10 or more along with Brendan Temple (19 points), Anthony Irvin (10 points) and Dalton Gayman (10 points).  Jackson and Gayman each brought down six rebounds, while Temple was responsible for six assists.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will look to build some momentum as it hosts Parkside on Saturday at 3 p.m.

 
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