HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Wayne State University men's basketball squad (1-5 overall, 1-2 GLIAC) suffered a 72-61 setback at Michigan Tech (5-2 overall, 2-2 GLIAC) Saturday afternoon.
 
The Warriors started strong jumping out to a 12-6 lead at the 13:40 mark.  Freshman Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) along with redshirt sophomores Michael Lewis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) and Joel Ndondo (Ajax, Ont.) each had two buckets to offset two triples by Huskie Ben Stelzer.
 
After grabbing a 17-14 advantage with 9:10 left in the opening 20 minutes, WSU was able to convert only four field goal attempts the rest of the half.  Meanwhile, Michigan Tech concluded the first half on a 25-9 run, which included two more three-pointers from Stelzer (who finished the first half with five triples) along with a regular two-point basket.
 
Stelzer had 17 points at intermission as the Huskies made 8-of-12 shots from beyond the arc and 6-of-12 from inside the three-point line to shoot 58 percent (14-of-24) in the first half.  Moore led the Warriors with nine points at the break.
 
A triple by Wayne State's Daniel Ball (Dearborn Hts., Mich. / Allen Park Cabrini) at the 12:15 mark of the second half cut the Wayne State deficit to seven (45-38), but a Stelzer lay-up and three field goals by Kyle Stankowski pushed the margin to 13 (53-40) with 8:39 remaining.
 
Back-to-back lay-ups by Moore and Tristan Wilson (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Skyline) made it a nine-point game (53-44), but three three-pointers by the Huskies in just over 90 seconds extended the home squad's lead to 13 (62-49) with 5:48 left.
 
Wayne State was able to cut its deficit to nine just one more time (66-57) following a conventional three-point play by Moore.
 
WSU outscored the Huskies 35-33 in the second half by shooting 54 percent (13-of-24) from the floor.  Moore notched a career-high 18 points, while Wilson grabbed a team-best six rebounds.
 
Stelzer finished with a game-high 28 points with Stankowski adding 17 points off the bench.
 
Wayne State will conclude its U.P. trip with a 5 p.m. contest on Monday at Northern Michigan.