Junior guard Eldon Turner poured in a career-high 23 points that included 10 straight points in the final 2:35 of the first half to fuel Wayne State in a 75-62 nonconference men's college basketball win over Nebraska-Kearney Monday evening at Rice Arena in Wayne. It marks the 10th time in the last 11 meetings that the home team in the WSC vs. UNK series has won the contest.
Nebraska-Kearney held the lead for a majority of the first half until Turner's scoring surge in the final 2:35 of the half turned a 29-21 Wildcat deficit into a 33-29 halftime lead.
WSC was down 29-21 at the 3:37 mark of the opening half. A Payson Nietert layup started the Wildcat rally. Turner started his scoring surge making a 1-and-1 at the 2:35 mark, then hit four straight free throws that included a technical foul on UNK at the 1:38 mark to even the score at 29-29. Turner then closed the half with a pair of layups, including the final one with six seconds to play in the half, putting Wayne State in front 33-29.
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Turner ended the opening half with 14 points on 10 of 12 shooting at the charity stripe.
Wayne State opened the second half strong, taking its first double-digit lead at 46-35 with 14:25 to play. UNK cut the deficit to seven at 49-42. Turner responded with a 3-pointer followed by a Matt Noll layup to push the advantage back to 12 at 54-42, and the Wildcats led by double figures the rest of the night to claim a 75-62 victory.
Turner's 23 points, a career high, led Wayne State in scoring. He was 5 of 9 from the field and 12 of 15 at the free-throw stripe. He also had three steals. Reserve guard Landon Classen chipped in a career-high 15 points, freshman guard Levente Tallos scored 14 and Noll added 11.
Wayne State shot 49 percent for the game, making 25 of 51 shots. The Wildcats were 9 of 23 behind the arc and 16 of 24 from the free-throw line.
Zeek Brown scored 16 points for Nebraska-Kearney, followed by Nate Kelley and Amarion Savage with 12 points apiece.
The Lopers made 20 of 48 shots for 41.7 percent, including 8 of 21 from the 3-point line and 14 of 21 at the charity stripe.
Wayne State held a slim 32-29 edge in rebounding over UNK thanks to 10 boards by Noll for a double-double. Turner added nine caroms, another career high.
Noll and Darshan Thomas each had three assists while Tallos and Turner each collected three steals.
Wayne State heads to Little Rock, Arkansas, this weekend for the NSIC/GAC Challenge as the Wildcats face Ouachita Baptist Friday at 3 p.m. and Arkansas Monticello Saturday for a 1 p.m. contest.
