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Wayne State University Athletics

Rob Lee, Jr. - 2025 vs. Parkside
Izzy Rincon
Rob Lee, Jr. paced all scorers with 17 points, his fifth game in double-figures out of his previous six outings.
61
Wis.-Parkside UWP 5-8,2-3 GLIAC
65
Winner Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 6-7,2-3 GLIAC
Wis.-Parkside UWP
5-8,2-3 GLIAC
61
Final
65
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne
6-7,2-3 GLIAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Wis.-Parkside UWP 29 32 61
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 27 38 65

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

Men's Basketball Survives Parkside in Low-Scoring Affair, 65-61

Head coach Bryan Smothers defeated the Rangers for the first time in five tries.

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (6-7 overall, 2-3 GLIAC) outlasted Parkside (5-8 overall, 2-3 GLIAC) 65-61 on Thursday night to snap a three-game league losing streak.  The Warriors scored their fewest points in a victory since February of 2022 and earned head coach Bryan Smothers' first triumph over the Rangers in five tries.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The first half was a back-and-forth battle that saw a combined four ties and nine lead changes.  Neither team led by more than four points, an advantage that Wayne State held onto twice (7-3, 17-13) while Parkside did so once (11-7).

The Warriors' final advantage of the first 20 minutes came at the 4:52 mark when they were ahead by two, 24-22.  From there until the intermission, the Rangers outscored their hosts 7-3 to lead by two at the break, 29-27.

WSU assisted on seven of its 10 field goals in the first half, but turned the ball over nine times.  On the other side, UWP tallied eight assists on 12 field goals to just four turnovers.  Wayne State shot at a 45.4 percent (10-of-22) clip to Parkside's 38.7 percent (12-of-31).

Second Half
The contest was knotted up twice more through two-and-a-half minutes of the second half before Parkside regained the lead (33-31) and held it for nearly five minutes.

At the 12:42 juncture, Rob Lee, Jr. (Flint, Mich.) scored three more of his game-high 17 points to even up the score again, 38-38.

However, the Rangers used an 8-2 run to take the biggest lead of the night for either team at six, 46-40, with just over 11 minutes left on the clock.

Then, Lee, Jr. converted one of two at the free throw line, Jordan Briggs (Muskegon, Mich.) cashed a three-pointer and Carlos Paul III (Southfield, Mich. / Cornerstone Lincoln-King [Missouri State - West Plains]) made a layup for the game's eighth deadlock, 46-46.

UWP punched right back with an Ethan Ivan triple and Jack Rose jumper that stretched the margin back to five, 51-46.

Then came what seemed like a game-defining stretch for WSU in which it rattled off 10 straight points over nearly three minutes of game time.  That run put the Warriors ahead by five (56-51) as they were a perfect 3-of-3 from the floor, 2-of-2 from deep, and 2-of-2 at the charity stripe without a single turnover.

The Rangers wouldn't go away though and evened the score for the final time at 56-56.

Carmelo Harris (Flint, Mich.) proceeded to splash a trey and the home team never looked back.  Wayne State notched nine points to Parkside's five in the final two-and-a-half minutes, seven of which came from Harris, and held on for the four-point victory.

TEAM STATS
Wayne State turned the ball over just twice in the second half and went 20-of-25 at the free throw line for the night.  Parkside went to the charity stripe for just nine attempts, making nine of them.  The Warriors outscored the Rangers 13-6 in bench points and 8-2 in fast-break scoring.  From the field, WSU converted at a 42.2 percent clip (19-of-45) and UWP shot it at 40.7 percent (24-of-59).

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Four Warriors scored in double-figures including Lee, Jr. with 17, Harris with 16, Briggs with 13 and Kelvin Tamakloe with a career-high 10 off the bench.  Lee, Jr. and Briggs each assisted on four made shots while Kareem Aburashed (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Detroit Country Day [Macomb CC]) brought down seven rebounds.  Four different players registered a steal and two had one block apiece.

LEADING THE RANGERS
Josiah Palmer paced the team with 16 points and five dimes while three more players turned in 11 points each -- Ivan, Nick Brown and Rose.  Brown secured a game-high eight boards and two steals while Matas Castillo recorded his team's lone block.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will look to build on this momentum when it plays host to Purdue Northwest on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m.

 
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