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Wayne State University Athletics

Ray Williams, Jr.
Ray Williams, Jr. scored a career-high 16 points on Friday.
65
Saginaw Valley SV 3-10,3-10 GLIAC
80
Winner Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 10-4,10-4 GLIAC
Saginaw Valley SV
3-10,3-10 GLIAC
65
Final
80
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne
10-4,10-4 GLIAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Saginaw Valley SV 32 33 65
Wayne St. (MI) Wayne 38 42 80

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Cameron Weidenthaler, Assistant Media Relations Director

First-Place Warriors Stay Hot, Win 80-65

The Warriors have won seven of their last eight games.

DETROIT -- The Wayne State University men's basketball team (10-4 GLIAC) strengthened its grasp on first place Friday night with an 80-65 win over Saginaw Valley State (3-10 GLIAC).  It was the first of four straight home games to finish the regular season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Freshman Ray Williams, Jr. (Detroit, Mich. / Edison Public School Academy) connected on a corner three-pointer to give Wayne State an early 7-4 lead at the 16:41 mark.  Four consecutive points by redshirt senior Brailen Neely (Detroit, Mich. / Western International) pushed the home advantage to five (11-6) with 15:26 to play before halftime.  Sophomore Kylin Grant (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) knocked down a 12-foot jumper to give Wayne State a 17-13 lead at the 11:57 mark.  Those two points started a 10-0 run by the Green & Gold to push the margin to 25-13 with 10:22 remaining.  After the Cardinals trimmed their deficit to four, 26-22, redshirt sophomore Avery Lewis (Ann Arbor, Mich. / Huron) found room for a layup to increase the margin to six.  Williams tallied two points to give the Warriors a 30-24 lead at the 6:20 mark.  A bucket from Darnell Hoskins, Jr. brought SVSU within one, 30-29, with 4:34 left before halftime.  Defense controlled the final minutes, but a layup from Williams made it 34-30 with under one minute to play.  A SVSU technical produced four points for WSU, including a buzzer-beater from Neely to put the halftime tally at 38-32.

Lewis made a mid-range jumper to give the Warriors a 42-32 advantage at the 18:50 mark of the second half.  Following a few SVSU baskets that brought the visitors with four, 42-38, buckets from Williams and redshirt junior Darian Owens-White (Detroit, Mich. / River Rouge) pushed the margin back to eight, 46-38, with 15:47 to play.  A slick inbound play left junior Antonio Marshall (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King) wide open next to the basket for an easy two points to push the lead to 48-38 at the 15:02 mark.  Owens-White extended the lead to 53-40, the largest lead of the night to that point, with a triple from the top of the key.  An old-fashioned three-point play from Williams gave the Green & Gold a 58-47 lead with 9:16 to play.  A long-range jumper by Delano Smith kept SVSU close, 58-50, at the 8:16 mark.  A tough and acrobatic layup by Neely pushed the home lead to 64-55 with 5:40 left.  A Neely steal and a fast break layup made it 68-55 at the 4:53 mark and forced SVSU head coach Randy Baruth to use a timeout in an attempt to slow the rally.  WSU would continue to seize the momentum and after a three-pointer from Marshall and a jumper from Grant made it 73-57 with 3:24 remaining.  Lewis used a conventional three-point play to extend the margin to 76-57 at the 2:18 mark.  Wayne State would finish the game strong and win 80-65.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Neely led the way with 23 points, nine assists and four steals.  He accounted for over half of WSU's offense when you account for field goals and assists.  Lewis collected his third double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds to go with six assists, while Williams tallied 16 points and eight boards.  Owens-White finished with 11 points.

LEADING THE CARDINALS
Myles Belyeu scored a game-high 25 points, while Smith finished with 17 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

ONE BIG THING
The Warriors scored 24 points off of 15 SVSU turnovers, while Wayne State turned the ball over just 10 times leading to seven points.

UP NEXT
Wayne State and SVSU will finish the series on Saturday with tip-off set for 2:00 PM.
 
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