Feb. 17, 2007

Stats

DETROIT - The Wayne State University men's basketball team (13-11 overall, 9-7 GLIAC) secured a spot in the 2007 GLIAC tournament with a come-from-behind 72-66 triumph over visiting Saginaw Valley State University (10-13 overall, 7-9 GLIAC) Saturday afternoon at the Matthaei.

WSU's win, coupled with a loss by Mercyhurst at Ashland today, puts the Warriors' fate in their own hands. A win next Saturday (Feb. 24) at Hillsdale will earn Wayne State the No. 2 seed in the GLIAC South Division and a home playoff game on Feb. 27.

In the opening minutes of the contest versus the Cardinals it looked like Wayne State was still recovering from the pre-game Senior Day festivities as SVSU jumped out to a 10-0 lead just 3:40 into the match. Saginaw increased its lead to 12 (17-5) at the 12:58 mark before the Warrior defense stepped up. The Cardinals made just four of 12 shots the rest of the first half plus committed four turnovers as WSU went on a 29-8 run.

Junior Wynn Sarden (Sterling Hts., Mich./Cousino) started the rally with a lay-up on a pass from senior Joe Carr (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance). After getting a defensive rebound, senior Kris Krzyminski (Flint, Mich./Central) drained a three-pointer from junior Jason Saddler (Detroit, Mich./Cody). The made shot from beyond the arc set a Wayne State single-season record of 78 three pointers (Charles LeSure, 1999-2000, held the previous mark at 77).

SVSU's Kevin Thornton and Lawrence Ross sandwiched buckets around a Sarden lay-up to temporarily halt the run. Sarden then made two foul shots and Saddler scored from inside after recording an offensive rebound. Carr hit a jumper and Saddler scored on a lay-up and Krzyminski finished off the 11-0 run with a triple. After a jumper by Ross tied the game at 23 (the lone tie of the match), the Warriors scored the next five points on a Saddler lay-up and foul shot plus a jumper by Krzyminski and WSU's lead was never less than three the rest of the contest.

A key to WSU's 34-25 halftime advantage was on the offensive glass were the Warriors had eight offensive rebounds compared to SVSU's 10 defensive rebounds, which led to Wayne State having six more field goal attempts in the opening 20 minutes. WSU also did a good job of protecting the basketball as it only had two turnovers in the first half.

The Warriors kept the momentum after intermission scoring the first nine points of the second half to build a 43-25 lead, meaning Wayne State had outscored Saginaw Valley 43-15 in a span of 18:57. WSU was able to increase its lead to 21 points (53-32) with 14:05 remaining and the closest the Cardinals were able to get the rest of the way was 15 points at 79-64 with 52 seconds left.

Krzyminski scored 13 points in each half to finish with a game-high 26 points. He also tied for team-high honors in assists (four) with Sarden. Sarden also had a double-double (15 points and 12 rebounds) for the second consecutive game and the third Saturday in WSU's last four Saturday contests.

Carr, despite being all of 5-6, recorded WSU's lone blocked shot in the game and finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Saddler finished with 17 points, one shy of his season-high.

Both teams attempted 22 shots from beyond the arc with Wayne State making 12 (five by Krzyminski, three by Carr, and one each by Sarden, Will Pierce, Larry Edwards and Harry Hairston) and SVSU connecting on six.

Notes:

The 82 points scored by WSU was the third-highest total this year.

The 12 three-pointers made by the Warriors was the second-best mark this season.

Wynn Sarden's 12 rebounds equal a personal and team season-best total.

Kris Krzyminski has 579 points on the year, the fourth highest mark in school history (Bob Solomon, 1972-73, is third at 623).

Krzyminski's 197 field goals made in a season is 11th, one behind Tony Goins 1998-99 mark of 198.

Krzyminski's 159 three point field goal attempts in a season is tied-for-sixth with Mark Herron (1993-94). Terrance Porter (1997-98) is fifth at 168.

Joe Carr	Kris Krzyminski	Will Pierce	Group Photo