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Wayne State University Athletics

Brailen Neely
Brailen Neely posted his third game with least 20 points on Thursday night.
86
Wayne State WS 3-2, 0-1 GLIAC
96
Winner Ferris State FS 11-1, 1-0 GLIAC
Wayne State WS
3-2, 0-1 GLIAC
86
Final
96
Ferris State FS
11-1, 1-0 GLIAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Wayne State WS 42 44 86
Ferris State FS 43 53 96

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

Scoring Drought Dooms Men's Basketball in Shootout at Ferris State

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. -- In the first league matchup of the season, the Wayne State University men's basketball program (3-2 overall, 0-1 GLIAC) battled but fell 96-86 at 23rd-ranked Ferris State (11-1 overall, 1-0 GLIAC) on Thursday night inside Wink Arena.  WSU nearly shot its way to victory, going 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) from behind the arc but lost steam during the final minutes.  The 12 three-pointers is tied for the third most in program history.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Warriors started fast and led 9-0 powered by five points from senior Brailen Neely (Detroit, Mich. / Western International) forcing Ferris State to take a timeout at the 16-minute mark.  Another triple from Neely gave the visitors a 14-6 lead and a jumper by freshman Nate Talbot (Lake Orion, Mich.) pushed the advantage to 16-9 with 13:48 to play in the first half.  Neely connected for his third three-pointer of the night on the next possession as Wayne State extended its lead to 19-9.  Two points from senior Karim Murray (Detroit, Mich. / Western International) gave the Green & Gold its largest lead of the night, 24-11, at the 11:52 mark.  Murray carried the offense past the midway point of the stanza and a 12-foot jumper from the guard gave WSU a 30-21 advantage with 7:50 to play in the half.  After FSU trimmed the margin to four, 32-28, Neely hit his fifth trey of the game to make it 35-28 at the 4:32 mark.  The Warriors led 38-30 after freshman Kylin Grant (Detroit, Mich. / Renaissance) made one of two free throws with 3:41 remaining.  Ferris State continued to chip away and trailed by two at the 1:32 mark and a triple from Walt Kelser trimmed the visitor's lead to one with just under 60 seconds to play.  A driving layup from Neely pushed the lead to three, 42-39, at the 42-second mark but a four quick points to end the half gave the home team a 43-42 lead at the break.

Graduate student James Gordon IV (Shelbyville, Ky. / Chicago Simeon) opened the scoring for WSU in the second half with a layup at the 19:29 mark to give the Warriors a one-point lead.  Neely's sixth deep ball of the night made it 47-45 before sophomore Antonio Marshall (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King) got in on the three-point action on the next trip down the court to push the margin to five, 50-45.  After a Talbot bucket kept Wayne State up by five with 16:37 left to play, back-to-back triples from Cole Walker gave the Bulldogs a 53-52 lead at the 15:50 mark.  Three-pointers from Gordon and Marshall kept WSU in front, 58-55, with 14:36 remaining.  The game was deadlocked at 58-58 but a four-point play from Neely put WSU on top, 62-58, with 12:39 remaining.  Two points at the charity stripe by Murray gave the Warriors a 66-60 lead with 10:54 left to play.  Following a three-point basket from Marshall, a jumper by Murray put the advantage at 72-68 upon the arrival of the under-eight media timeout.  Ferris State continued to respond and regained the lead 73-72 at the seven-minute mark after five quick points.  The Wayne State offense went cold and FSU used a 10-0 run to take a 78-72 lead with six minutes to play.  Two free throws from Neely ended the three-minute scoring drought and trimmed the home lead to 78-74 at the 5:31 mark.  A layup by Murray brought WSU within two, 78-76, but the Bulldogs answered with five points to extend their advantage to 83-76 with four minutes left in regulation.  The momentum stayed with Ferris State and the WSU deficit grew to 11, 87-76, at the 3:34 mark.  Neely connected from behind the arc for the eighth time to cut the home lead to 89-81 with 2:30 remaining.  The Bulldogs would go on to win 96-86.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Neely scored a game-high 33 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including connecting on eight of his 11 three-point attempts.  Neely's eight triples is the third most in school history and the most since Kris Krzyminski made 11 three-pointers on Nov. 30, 2006, against Gannon.  Neely just missed a triple-double by grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out nine assists.  Murray tallied 18 points, while Gordon finished with 14 points and Talbot contributed 11 points to go with nine rebounds.

LEADING THE BULLDOGS
Ferris State had five players score in double figured led by Mason Pline with 21 points and nine boards.  Kelser had 18 points and Dorian Aluyi finished with 15 points.  Both Greg Williams and Walker totaled 13 points.

UP NEXT
The Warriors will stay on the road at play at Lake Superior State on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 p.m.


 
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