OWENSBORO, Ky. -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (0-1) dropped its season opener 71-54 at Kentucky Wesleyan (1-0) on Friday night.  The Warriors trailed by just five have halftime (35-30) but the Panthers controlled the second half to capture the wire-to-wire victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• A KWC fast break layup at the 17:34 mark put the Panthers up 7-3.  WSU's slow start continued as the Warriors trailed by 10 at 17-7 with 13:42 left to play before halftime.  Wayne State tied the game at 21-21 with an 8-0 run fueled by buckets from Marcus Moore (Lansing, Mich. / Waverly) and Ronald Booth (Detroit, Mich. / Consortium).  With just under five minutes to play, the Panthers regained control and led 30-24.  Chuck Key (Detroit, Mich. / Cass Tech) kept WSU close at 32-28 with a jumper at the 1:49 mark.  At the break, KWC led 35-30 powered by a 43 percent shooting clip and 10 Wayne State turnovers.

• The Panthers opened the second stanza on an 8-2 run to take a 43-32 advantage at the 16:23 mark.  A triple from Booth cut the deficit to 10 with 15 minutes left to play but that would be as close as the Green & gold would come the rest of the night as KWC extended its lead 15 at the eight-minute mark and led by as many as 20 down the stretch.

POINTS OFF TURNOVERS
• Kentucky Wesleyan scored 21 points off 21 Wayne State turnovers.  In the exhibition win at Detroit Mercy on Oct. 29th, WSU only turned the ball over 10 times.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
• Booth led WSU with 21 points, while Moore chipped in 10 points to go with his team-high seven rebounds.

• KWC's one-two punch of Ken-Jah Bosley and Jordan Jacks combined for 40 points.

UP NEXT
• The Warriors will conclude the G-MAC/GLIAC Challenge on Saturday at against Alderson Broaddus.