DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (12-14 overall, 6-11 GLIAC) made it two wins in a row and finished 10-4 at home this season defeating Northern Michigan (20-8 overall, 13-3 GLIAC) on Saturday for Senior Day, 84-80.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The first 36 total points scored and nine-plus minutes of game time saw a combined four ties and five lead changes.

Once it was deadlocked for a final time at 18-18, Wayne State rattled off seven-straight points to go up 25-18 with just under 10 minutes to go.  Tamario Adley (Detroit, Mich. / Warren De La Salle (Macomb CC)) was responsible for four points during that stretch while Kareem Aburashed (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Detroit Country Day (Macomb CC)) added three.

From there until the end of the first half, the Warriors pushed their advantage to as large as 10 on five different occasions including 32-22, 34-24, 36-26, 39-29 and 41-31.  Following the final instance, the Wildcats scored six of the next seven points to claw back within five, 42-37, at the 1:04 mark.

Jordan Briggs (Muskegon, Mich.) then cashed the second of his two triples to extend his team's lead back to eight (45-37) heading into the intermission.
 
Second Half
Following some back-and-forth play to begin the second half, Wayne State held a six-point advantage (50-44) before using an 11-3 spurt to gain its steepest lead of the day at 14 (61-47).  That same margin would happen again at 63-49 before Northern Michigan began to chip away a bit.

With that being said, the Warriors always had an answer as the Wildcats failed to score more than five points in a row from there until the end of the game.

NMU scored 31 points to WSU's 21 for the final 10+ minutes as the home team put the game on ice with 13 makes in 18 attempts at the free throw line.
 
TEAM STATS
Wayne State out-rebounded Northern Michigan 36-29 and shot 55.8 percent (29-of-52) to the Wildcats' 45.3 percent (29-of-64).  NMU made 10 three-pointers (10-of-21) to WSU's five (5-of-14) while the home team had a strong advantage at the charity stripe (21-of-29 to 12-of-15).  Wayne State assisted on five field goals to six turnovers while Northern Michigan turned in a ratio of 12-to-2.  The Warriors outscored the Wildcats 42-34 in paint scoring and 23-7 in bench points while the visitors controlled points off turnovers 8-4 and second-chance scoring 12-7.
 
LEADING THE WARRIORS
Colin Golson, Jr. (Detroit, Mich. / Ferndale (Siena / Eastern Michigan)) secured his fourth career double-double (all this season) thanks to 27 points (game and career high) and 13 rebounds (tied personal best).  Also scoring in double figures for Wayne State were Briggs with 17, Rob Lee, Jr. (Flint, Mich. / Beecher) with 11 (12th-straight game with 10 or more) and Carmelo Harris (Flint, Mich. / Beecher) with 10.  Also on offense, Adley was on top of the assist department with two.  Defensively, Ray Williams, Jr. (Detroit, Mich. / Edison Public School Academy) and Chris Mutebi (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Univ. of Detroit Jesuit) each notched a block while Lee, Jr. and Briggs tallied one steal apiece.
 
LEADING THE WILDCATS
Four Wildcats scored in double figures including Carson Smith (22 points), Brian Parzych (19), Dylan Kuehl (14) and Riley Brooks (11).  Sam Schultz finished with nine rebounds while three different players dished out a trio of assists.  On the other side of the court, Northern Michigan was paced by Kuehl (one block), Sam Privet (one block) and Schultz again (two steals).

UP NEXT
Wayne State will be at Saginaw Valley State (13-13 overall, 6-11 GLIAC) on Saturday, March 2 for the 2023-24 regular season finale.  The winner will qualify for the GLIAC Tournament while the loser's season will be finished.