INDIANAPOLIS -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (0-2 overall) was ahead of Indianapolis (2-0 overall) by one, 64-63, with just over two minutes remaining on Sunday inside Nicoson Hall.  However, the Greyhounds outscored the Warriors 5-3 the rest of the way with a jumper and trio of free throws to win it, 68-67.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Wayne State could not have asked for a better start accounting for 14 of the game's first 16 points in a run that lasted about three and a half minutes.  During that span, the Warriors were a perfect 5-of-5 from the field, including 2-for-2 from three, without a single turnover and four different scorers contributing.

Those four were Carmelo Harris (Flint, Mich. / Beecher) with five, Carlos Paull III (Southfield, Mich. / Cornerstone Lincoln-King [Missouri State-West Plains]) with four, Ray Williams, Jr. (Detroit, Mich. / Edison Public School Academy) with three and Rob Lee, Jr. (Flint, Mich. / Beecher) with two.

Indianapolis settled in though and did so with a 15-4 spurt that elapsed nearly eight minutes and cut the deficit to one, 18-17, at the 9:38 mark.  Five different Greyhounds found the scoring column in that stretch as the home team went 7-of-13 from the floor.

Paull III helped his team stem the tide thanks a two-pointer in the paint that expanded WSU's advantage back to three, 20-17.  However, UI's Tucker Tornatta drilled a triple and dunked one in to put the hosts ahead for the first time at 22-20 with 7:47 remaining in the half.  Then, his teammate Brody Whitaker converted a layup for Indianapolis' biggest lead of the half at four, 24-20.

WSU was up to the task though with its second 14-2 outburst of the night that pushed the visitors ahead by eight, 34-26, and took the clock down to under 90 seconds.  Harris notched eight points to fuel the fire while Adam Ayrault (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) added a pair of treys for all of his six points.

In the final 80 ticks of the stanza, the Greyhounds scored six points to the Warriors three making the halftime margin five, 37-32.

Second Half
Coming out of the locker room, Wayne State used a 9-3 frenzy to extend its lead to 11 at 46-35.  Tamario Adley (Detroit, Mich. / Warren De La Salle [Macomb CC]) accounted for four of those 11 while Harris, Jordan Briggs (Muskegon, Mich.) and Paul III added two, two and one, respectively.

Neither team scored for nearly two minutes of game time before Indianapolis rattled off 14 of 16 points to go ahead for the first time in the second half, 49-48.  That lead change was the first of six in the final 11 minutes of the game along with seven lead changes.

As mentioned above, the sixth of those lead changes came when Rob Lee, Jr. (Flint, Mich. / Beecher) sank a pair of free throws to make it 64-63 in favor of the Green & Gold at the 2:19 juncture.  In the midst of the Greyhounds regaining the lead at 65-64, the Warriors turned the ball over on three straight possessions.

UIndy then made one of two at the free throw line, led by two at 66-64 and WSU's Adley had a chance to tie it up with a layup.  However, the junior drove too far under the basket, missed it and the home team was able to put the game on ice with two more at the charity stripe.  Adley hit a three at the buzzer, but it was too little, too late.

TEAM STATS
Wayne State turned the ball over 18 times to Indianapolis' nine and the Greyhounds capitalized outscoring the Warriors in points off those giveaways, 23-8.  UIndy's bench edged WSU's 25-11 and the home team also had the upper hand in paint scoring, 36-22.  Wayne State shot 53.9 percent (14-of-26) from the field in the first half to just 27.3 percent (6-for-22) in the second.  Indianapolis also shot poorly in the final 20 minutes (29.7 percent, 11-of-37), but had an eight-rebound advantage on the offensive glass, 15-7.  Both squads put up 20 three-pointers, eight of which went in for UIndy while WSU cashed four of them.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Harris paced all scorers with 19 points and was one of three Warriors in double-figures, joined by Adley's 13 and Paul III"s 10.  Paul III was one rebound shy of a double-double to go with one blocked shot.  Adley stuffed the stat sheet in other places as well thanks to eight boards, four assists, four steals, one block and not a single turnover.  The junior point guard was the only Warrior and one of just three on either team to not give it away once.

LEADING THE GREYHOUNDS
Indianapolis also had three to score at least 10 in DaShawn Jackson (16), Brody Whitaker (15) and Tucker Tornatta (13).  Tornatta secured a double-double with 11 boards and Noah Kon dished out four dimes.  Defensively, two Greyhounds tallied a block (Tornatta, Whitaker) while Tornatta and Kon each notched three steals.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will make its 2024-25 home debut on Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. against Findlay inside the Fieldhouse.