GAME STORYLINES
The Wayne State University men's basketball team (12-12 overall, 9-9 GLIAC) split its final two road games of the regular season last week.  The Warriors were 92-85 winners at Roosevelt on Thursday night before falling at Parkside 77-66 on Saturday afternoon.  Looking to secure a home game for the quarterfinal round of the GLIAC Tournament, WSU will host Lake Superior State and Saginaw Valley State this Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Lake Superior State (16-11 overall, 10-8 GLIAC) comes in having won five games in a row and seven of the last eight.  The Lakers have gone 5-8 away from home, 3-6 in true road games, as opposed to 11-3 at home.  As for Saginaw Valley State (13-13 overall, 7-11 GLIAC), the Cardinals have been on the right side of the scoreboard for two straight contests after a four-game losing skid.

SERIES HISTORY
Wayne State leads the all-time series with Lake Superior State by 10, 49-39.  However, the Lakers have won 12 of the last 16 showdowns against the Warriors, including six of the last eight.  With that being said, WSU has a chance to win two in a row against LSSU for the first time since 2012-13.
Saginaw Valley State leads the all-time series with Wayne State by six, 48-42, but the Warriors have won four of the last five meetings against the Cardinals.  WSU will look to win a third straight contest against SVSU when playing in Detroit, something the program hasn't done since 2001-02.

SCOUTING LAKE SUPERIOR STATE
For Lake Superior State, everything starts with ball security.  The Lakers are fifth in the country for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.59) and eighth in turnover margin (5.2).  LSSU also ranks 16th in three-pointers attempted per game (28.6), 18th in assists per game (17.5), 21st in fast-break points (16.4), 23rd in three-point percentage (37.6), 24th in scoring offense (86.1), 24th in steals per game (9.5), and 24th in turnovers forced per game (16.2).

Individually, six Lakers are averaging at least eight points per game.  That group includes Omar Suleiman (16.6, seventh in the GLIAC), Harrison Sorrelle (13.1), Nino Carter-Smith (11.1), Karter Richards (9.5), Tyler Jamison (8.4), and Drew Hess (8.1).  Jamison is the leader on the glass with 4.8 rebounds per contest and Carter-Smith dishes out 4.7 assists per effort, good for second in the league.  Carter-Smith has also racked up 57 steals, while Suleiman has 15 blocks to his name.

SCOUTING SAGINAW VALLEY STATE
Saginaw Valley State presents four players with at least eight points per game in Xavier Thomas (16.8, sixth in the GLIAC), Marquese Josephs (12.3), Dontez Scott II (11.2), and Triston Nichols (8.0).  Nichols and Kevonne Taylor are tied for the team lead in rebounds per game with 5.2, but Taylor presents a different element.  The redshirt junior is 10th in all of Division II for blocks per game (2.36) and 12th in total blocks (59).  Assist wise, Scott II is at the top (2.9/game), while Nichols has 38 steals.

LAST GAME RECAP
Senior Carlos Paul III opened the scoring with a lay-up just over a minute into the contest.  That started a stretch of five lead changes between the 17:30 and 12:41 marks, which was just under five minutes.  Parkside extended its lead to six on a three-pointer from Luka Mateski with 10:54 to play, but was quickly answered by a triple from senior Cooper Craggs on the next possession to cut UWP's lead to three (16-13).

Following that, the Rangers went on a 9-3 run to grab a 10-point advantage (27-17) at the under-eight media timeout.  From there to the end of the stanza, Parkside's advantage would hover between eight and 12 points, but no more than that.

Junior Jordan Briggs, sophomore Jalen Jenkins and junior Marshall Thorn all scored four points each in the final seven minutes of the period to lead the way for the Warriors.

Only four points were tallied in the opening two minutes of the new half, which all came from Briggs at the charity stripe to close Wayne State's deficit to seven (40-33) with 18:21 to play.  A triple from Jenkins answered a lay-in from UWP's Josiah Palmer right after to make it 42-36 UWP with 17:27 left.  A trio of free throws by Paul III, including two just following the media timeout, then made it 46-39 Parkside.

A dunk by junior Jotham Nweke cut the Rangers' lead to its shortest since the first half at five (46-41) with 15:12 remaining.  A subsequent 12-6 run from the hosts to the under-12 media timeout extended that lead back to double digits at 58-47.

UWP's Jack Rose tallied nine straight points for the Rangers between 12:12 and 10:22, while Paul III provided four consecutive points for the Warriors late in that same stretch.  After a lay-up from Thorn with 8:37 left, the only points scored for nearly the next three minutes came on a lay-in from Mateski to give Parkside a 13-point edge (66-53) with 7:21 left.

From there to the end, the Warriors' rally would only get to a nine-point deficit, as the Rangers matched WSU on nearly every basket.  WSU out-scored UWP 12-11 over the final 5:56, but it was not nearly enough to delete the 11-point halftime deficit.  One notable moment in the final stretch came from redshirt sophomore Adam Ayrault who drained back-to-back three-pointers as part of a 6-0 run with five minutes to play.

Briggs led the way with 14 points, followed closely by Nweke with 13.  Those were the only two Warriors in double figures.  Briggs also made all eight free throws.  Thorn grabbed a season-best and game-high 12 rebounds, which was also the third straight game the junior hauled in 10 or more boards.  Nweke followed with 10 rebounds for his team-leading third double-double of the campaign.

WARRIOR SPORTS NETWORK
Kevin Brechmacher (play-by-play), Chuck Key (color commentary) and Brady Beedon (sideline) will have the call on Thursday before Brechmacher, Marcus Moore (color) and Tony Ortiz (sideline) will bring you the action on Saturday.