MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Minnesota State University Moorhead Dragon men's basketball team faced the Wayne State College Wildcats (Neb.) Friday night in their first home Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest.

Both the Dragons and Wildcats shared the same score four time in the first six minutes, but Wayne State broke an 11-11 tie and held a small lead until the Dragons again tied the scoreboard 27-27 with 3:34 left in the half.  MSU Moorhead would take advantage in the time remaining to take a 33-32 lead at halftime.

The Wildcats began the second half with a Ben Tasa three-pointer to take the lead 35-33.  With just over 13 minutes to play, Eric Olson grabbed a quick steal which led to an Andrew VanHavermaet three-pointer to tie the game 38-38.  VanHavermaet would drop another three just seconds later to take a small lead.

Wayne State's Brad Starken would score the next 12 points for the Wildcats by hitting four straight three-pointers.  The Wildcats would hold their lead for the rest of the game and beat the Dragons 73-66 to move to 3-2 in NSIC play.

Notables for the Dragons were a double-double performance from Alex Novak (14 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks) and Tarell Clark's line of 12 points, seven rebounds, and six steals.

The loss drops MSU Moorhead to 5-3 on the season and 2-2 in NSIC play.  Tomorrow the Dragons face the Vikings from Augustana (S.D.) at 8 p.m. in Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse.

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