MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The Wayne State University men's basketball program (4-5 overall, 1-4 GLIAC) faltered at Northern Michigan (6-7 overall, 3-2 GLIAC) 58-55 on Saturday afternoon.

HOW IT HAPPENED
A jumper from graduate student James Gordon IV (Shelbyville, Ky. / Chicago Simeon) at the 15:43 mark gave WSU a 6-5 lead.  Freshman forward Nate Talbot (Lake Orion, Mich.) connected on a mid-range jumper to keep the Warriors close 11-8 with 12:38 remaining in the first half.  An NMU dunk pushed the home lead to six, 16-10, at the 10:49 mark but Wayne State answered quickly with a jumper from sophomore guard Antonio Marshall (Detroit, Mich. / Martin Luther King) to cut the deficit to 16-12.  Baskets from senior guard Karim Murray (Detroit, Mich. / Western International) and Gordon brought the Green & Gold within four, 24-20, with 6:02 left before halftime.  The Wildcats would go on a 7-0 run extending their lead to 31-20 at the 2:30 mark.  Wayne State trailed 32-22 at halftime.  The Warriors scored just two points over the final 5:45 of the opening stanza.

Wayne State notched the first six points of the second half to cut NMU's lead to 32-28 at the 17:22 mark.  Northern Michigan would regain its double-digit lead with 12:07 left to play, leading 43-33.  A Marshall jumper at the 7:44 mark made it 47-39 in favor of the Wildcats.  WSU cut the margin to four, 49-45, on a layup by senior guard Brailen Neely (Detroit, Mich. / Western International) with 6:16 left in the contest.  A Talbot layup made it a two-point game. 49-47, at the 4:48 mark.  The Wildcats did not make a field goal from the 10:16 mark until the 2:52 point after a Myles Howard layup gave NMU a 52-47 advantage.  Marshall knocked down a 14-foot jumper to trim the home lead to three, 52-49, with just under two minutes remaining.  Sam Taylor's triple at the 1:05 mark gave the Wildcats a 55-49 lead.  Neely was fouled while attempting a three-pointer and connected on all three shots from the charity stripe cutting the home advantage to 57-55 with two seconds to play.  Neely missed a last-second trey that would have tied the game but drew only iron and WSU's comeback attempt would run out of time as NMU captured a 58-55 victory.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Neely finished with a team-high 14 points, while Gordon posted a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.  Murray tallied 12 points.

LEADING THE WILDCATS
Alec Fruin scored a game-high 16 points, while Taylor posted 11 points and Howard collected a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.

TEAM STATS
WSU scored 28 points in the paint compared to NMU's 16.  Both teams struggled at the free throw line as the Warriors went 11-for-17 (64.7 percent) and the Wildcats made nine of their 13 attempts (69.2 percent).  The difference was behind the arc where Northern Michigan went 11-for-31 (35.5 percent), while Wayne State made just two of its 10 three-point attempts.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will return home after the eight-game road trip to host Davenport on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.