DETROIT, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University men's basketball team dropped a 61-51 decision at Wayne State Saturday in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference action.

NMU drops to 4-12 overall and 3-9 in the conference with the loss while the Warriors improve to 8-7 overall and 6-6 in the GLIAC.

The Wildcats were down 34-28 with three minutes remaining in the first, when back-to-back three pointers by junior Ethan Blackwell and junior Justin Newell tied the game. A made jump shot by freshman Marcus Hall with one tick left on the clock gave the Wildcats the lead going into the break, 36-34.

NMU shot 60-percent from the floor in the first half connecting on 12-20 of their attempts and went 5-10 from three-point range. Hall led the Wildcats with 10 first half points.

An old fashioned three-point play by junior Larry Taylor gave the Wildcats a 39-38 lead with 15:24 left in the contest, but Wayne State went on an 11-0 run over the next seven minutes of the game to recapture the lead 49-39.   

Blackwell led four Wildcats in double-digit scoring with a team high 14 points. Sophomore Terry Nash, Newell and Hall each added 10 for NMU.  

NMU shot 17-48 (35.4 percent) from the floor and 11-13 (84.6 percent) from the free throw line.

The Warriors were led by Jamar Ragland with 17 points and Bryan Coleman had 16. WSU outrebounded NMU, 36-20. The Warriors shot 22-44 (50 percent) from the floor and were 14-21 (66.7 percent) from the charity stripe.

NMU returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Thursday (Jan. 30) hosting Lake Superior State at the Berry Event Center.

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