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DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (1-0 overall) began its 2013-14 regular-season with a convincing 93-73 victory over visiting Wilberforce University (0-6 overall).

The Bulldogs held the early scoring advantage including their largest lead of the contest at 19-13 with just over 13 minutes left before intermission.

WSU responded with an 8-0 run, which began with a conventional three-point play by senior guard Chene Phillips (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) followed by a jumper from sophomore guard Gavin Toma (Troy, Mich. / Southfield Christian), and 43 seconds later Toma drained a triple off a feed from senior guard Deon Dismuke (Detroit, Mich. / Pershing).

The game then had five ties over the next five minutes with the last one coming at 33 with 6:14 remaining in the first half.

From that point forward, the Warriors had a 12-3 scoring edge with five different players scoring during the run highlighted by a Bryan Coleman (Southfield, Mich. / Lathrup) dunk after a steal.


WSU shot 45 percent (19-of-42) from the field in the opening 20 minutes, but just 1-of-8 from beyond the arc and still led 45-36.  Meanwhile, Wilberforce connected on 41 percent (12-of-29) of its shots.  Wayne State grabbed 11 offensive rebounds in recording a 14-9 margin in second-chance points during the first half.

The Warriors began the second half on a 12-6 run in the first 3:30 to increase their lead to 15 points (57-42).

WSU's lead remained in double digits for the next eight minutes until the Bulldogs pulled within seven (71-64) with just under nine minutes remaining on a three-pointer by Cameron Luckett.

Wayne State answered with six consecutive points and the lead was never less than 11 the rest of the contest.

Wilberforce's Sean Cassidy tallied a game-high 21 points to lead three Bulldogs in double figures.

Toma paced five Warriors in double figures with a career-high 19 points.  Coleman contributed 18 points and six rebounds along with a game-high four steals.  Phillips collected 14 points and dished out six assists.

Dismuke added 13 points off the bench on 6-of-6 shooting and chipped in with seven assists to no turnovers.  Sophomore Michael Lewis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) made 5-of-8 from the floor and finished with 12.  Senior center Michael Martin (West Bloomfield, Mich.) tallied eight points and eight rebounds in only 14 minutes.

The Warriors will be idle for the next 15 days resuming non-conference play at Lewis University on Saturday, Nov. 30th.

Notes:

Toma tallied a team-high 19 points in the win over Wilberforce, exceeding his entire output (12 points) from his rookie campaign.

Dismuke set career-highs in points (13), field goals made (6) and assists (7) in playing one minute shy of his career high of 30 set two years against Northwood.

Lewis set career-bests in points (12) and rebounds (6).

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