CHICAGO — The Wayne State University men's basketball team (12-11 overall, 9-8 GLIAC) won its second straight road game on Thursday night in The Windy City, 92-85 over Roosevelt (4-20 overall, 3-14 GLIAC).

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half
Wayne State outscored Roosevelt 11-4 through the game's first five-plus minutes.  Jotham Nweke (Oak Park, Mich. / Detroit Loyola [Macomb C.C.]) scored five of those points while Carlos Paul III (Southfield, Mich. / Cornerstone Lincoln-King [Missouri State - West Plains]) tacked on four and Jalen Jenkins (Belleville, Mich. [Macomb C.C.]) added two.

However, the Lakers countered with nine straight points and took a two-point advantage, 13-11.

Nweke hit a jumper and Jenkins converted a jump shot to give the Warriors a short-lived lead at 15-13.

The home team proceeded to uncork another run, this time to the tune of 11-2, which put it up by seven (24-17) with just under 10 minutes to play until the intermission.

The half of runs continued, this time in favor of the visitors, who rattled off 15 of the ensuing 18 points and were back ahead by five (32-27) at the 3:57 mark.  Jenkins was responsible for seven of the 18, Paul III notched five and Cooper Craggs (Northville, Mich. / Detroit Catholic Central [Oakland]) jumped in on the action with a three-pointer.

From there until the end of the period, the closest Roosevelt could get was three (32-29, 35-32), but Wayne State increased the margin to as big as nine (41-32) before the halftime score of 41-35.

The Warriors shot the ball well at all three levels through the first 20 minutes, including 53.3 percent (16-of-30) overall, 50 percent (4-of-8) from behind the arc and 83.3 percent (5-of-6) at the free throw line.  WSU also racked up 13 assists to six turnovers while RU had nine and five, respectively.

Second Half
Wayne State tallied 16 points to Roosevelt's 10 after six minutes played to begin the second half.  That spurt gave the Warriors their biggest lead of the night at 12, 57-45.

The Lakers cut their deficit to eight on five different occasions (57-49, 59-51, 61-53, 63-55, 65-57) before finally breaking through on that final instance.

RU's Mikey West finished an old fashioned three-point play, Hamahrie Bowers dunked one home and the hosts were within five, 65-60.

WSU took the punch in stride though, and pushed its advantage back to 10 (75-65) at the 6:36 juncture thanks to 10 of the next 15 points.  Paul III accounted for six of those 10 while both Jenkins and Devin Belle (Lyndhurst, Ohio / Pepper Pike Orange [Lincoln Trail C.C. / Lakeland C.C.]) scored two apiece.

From that point on, Wayne State's lead increased to 10 a trio of times (77-67, 84-74, 86-76) and Roosevelt was never closer than five (77-72, 79-74, 90-85) before the final seven-point spread of 92-85.

TEAM STATS
Wayne State shot 51.6 percent (33-of-64) to Roosevelt's even 50 percent (30-of-60).  The Lakers splashed in nine triples (9-of-23, 39.1 percent) to the Warriors' five (5-of-16, 31.3 percent), but WSU gained some ground at the charity stripe.  The Green and Gold went 21-of-25 (84 percent) in freebie attempts to RU's 16-of-20 (80 percent).  Wayne State racked up 23 assists, its second-highest total of the season (24 vs. Dearborn), to just eight turnovers.  The Warriors also won the rebounding battle (38-29), points in the paint (44-34) and bench scoring (14-6).

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Carlos Paul III and Jalen Jenkins both posted career highs in the scoring column with 25 points and 20 points, respectively.  Paul III also turned in the fifth double-double of his career, second as a Warrior and first this season after hauling in 11 rebounds.  

Marshall Thorn (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth [Schoolcraft C.C.]) and his nine points were one rebound shy of back-to-back double-doubles.  Jordan Briggs' (Muskegon, Mich.) 13 points and Nweke's 11 joined Paul III and Jenkins in the double-figure scoring department.  Lastly on offense, Jenkins racked up a season-high eight assists to just two turnovers, both of which were in the first half.  

Defensively, three Warriors recorded a steal and five had one blocked shot next to their name.

LEADING THE LAKERS
Roosevelt only played seven players, three of which went for 17 or more points in Bowers (36), Mikey West (20) and Dante Sawyer (17).  Bowers brought down nine boards and Mason Kleinsmith dished out six dimes.  On the other side of the court, Bowers (two steals), Kleinsmith (two steals) and Sawyer (two blocks) were the ringleaders.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will be at Parkside on Saturday for a 4 p.m. eastern tip against the Rangers inside De Simone Arena.