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Wayne State University Athletics

Carlos Paul III
WSU Athletics Creative
Carlos Paul led WSU with 20 points in the win over Northwood.
73
Northwood NW 2-2,0-0 G-MAC
79
Winner Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 2-1,0-0 GLIAC
Northwood NW
2-2,0-0 G-MAC
73
Final
79
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne
2-1,0-0 GLIAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Northwood NW 36 37 73
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 39 40 79

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Jeff Weiss, Senior Associate Director of Athletics/Media Relations

Men's Basketball Leads For Nearly 35 minutes in 79-73 Win over Northwood

Paul and Briggs combine for 38 points.

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball squad (2-1 overall) defeated visiting Northwood University (2-2 overall) 79-73 Saturday afternoon at the WSU Fieldhouse behind a combined 38 points from Carlos Paul III (matched career-high with 20 points) and Jordan Briggs (18 points).

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
The Timberwolves had leads of 2-0 and 4-2, before senior forward Carlos Paul III (Southfield, Mich. / Cornerstone Lincoln-King [Missouri State - West Plains]) scored from inside and junior forward Jotham Nweke (Oak Park, Mich. / Detroit Loyola [Macomb C.C.]) connected from long distance on the ensuing possession for a 7-4 advantage for the Warriors.

WSU led by seven (13-6) following a steal and fast-break lay-up by junior guard Jordan Briggs (Muskegon, Mich.).  A 6-2 spurt by NU cut their deficit to three (15-12) with 13:34 remaining in the first half.

After Wayne State had a five-point margin (19-14) on a Nweke jumper, Northwood rattled off five consecutive points to tie the game at 19-19.  Following a hook shot by senior forward Kelvin Tamakloe (Accra, Ghana / Spring Creek Academy [Blinn College]), the Timberwolves grabbed their final lead of the contest at 22-21 on a triple by Will Young II with just under 10 minutes left before intermission.

WSU regained the lead on two free throws by Paul, before NU's John Simpson split a pair from the charity stripe for 23-23 tie.  After the game was tied at 25-25 and 28-28, a lay-up by redshirt junior forward Cooper Craggs (Northville, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central [Oakland University]) put the Warriors on top 30-28.  Just over a minute later, redshirt sophomore guard Adam Ayrault (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) drained a triple before Northwood tallied four consecutive points to pull within one (33-32) at the 3:29 mark.  

A lay-up by junior Devin Belle guard (Lyndhurst, Ohio / Pepper Pike Orange [Lakeland C.C.]) and a dunk by junior forward Marshall Thorn (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth [Schoolcraft C.C.]) increased the lead to five (37-32).  Again NU scored four straight points, but sophomore guard Jalen Jenkins (Belleville, Mich. / Belleville [Macomb C.C.]) concluded the first half scoring with a jumper in the paint extending Wayne State's advantage to 39-36 at the break.  WSU led for 14:58 of the first half, compared to Northwood's 1:33.  There were three lead changes and seven ties in the opening 20 minutes.  NU's Young led all scorers at intermission with 13 points.

Second Half
A jumper by Belle and a fast-break lay-up by Briggs pushed the margin to seven (43-36).  Continuing with the back-and-forth, Northwood tallied five straight points to cut its deficit to two (43-41).

A 10-0 run by the Warriors, keyed by four straight points from Briggs, was the longest scoring run in the contest and gave the hosts a 53-41 advantage with 12:26 remaining.

WSU's lead remained between seven and 12 points until a conventional three-point play by Paul and a driving lay-up by Jenkins extended the Wayne State margin to 14 (62-48), the largest lead of the game.

The Warriors made just two free throws over the next four-plus minutes as the Timberwolves rallied scoring 12 of the 14 points during the field goal drought.  A lay-up by Jenkins ended the dry spell and gave WSU a 66-60 lead with 4:47 left.

After two foul shots by NU, a traditional three-point play by Paul made it a seven-point contest (69-62) with 3:42 remaining.  Following a lay-up by the Timberwolves, Paul and Tamakloe each scored extending the margin to nine (73-64) with 127 seconds left.

Northwood scored five straight points to make it a four-point game (73-69) with 1:23 remaining, but Briggs made all six of his free throws in the final 45 seconds to seal the victory.

TEAM STATS
Wayne State shot 46 percent (31-of-68) from the floor, while NU shot 44 percent (27-of-62).  WSU went just 3-of-16 (19 percent) from beyond the arc, with the Timberwolves connecting on 4-of-22 (18 percent) from three-point range.  Both teams were stellar at the charity stripe with the Warriors making 14-of-15 (93 percent) compared to Northwood's 15-of-17 (88 percent).  NU had a 42-33 edge in rebounding, but Wayne State had just eight turnovers to Northwood's 18 miscues giving the Warriors a 17-9 edge in points off turnovers.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Paul matched his WSU career-best with 20 points, while Briggs contributed 18 points and Tamakloe chipped in with 10 points and a team-best seven rebounds.  Both Briggs and Tamakloe each had three steals.

LEADING THE TIMBERWOLVES
Young finished with a game-high 21 points, while Jamison Eklund added 17 points.  Julian Lewis nearly had a double-double with 10 points and a game-best nine rebounds.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will conclude its three straight games against G-MAC foes on Tuesday night with a 7 pm start (originally was a 7:30 pm start) at Findlay.
 
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