Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney men's basketball team out shot and out rebounded Wayne State but the Lopers committed 23 turnovers in a 72-71 overtime loss to the Wildcats Thursday night in Wayne.

UNK falls to 1-1 on the season with WSC improving to 2-0.

Wayne State got out to 7-4 lead in the first three minutes of the game by getting baskets from post Brad Starken and guars Amry Shelby and Jason Jenson.

UNK came back to get a short lived lead, 10-9, with 14:29 left in the half thanks to a 6-2 scoring run.  During that run, the Lopers got baskets from senior Ben Klein (Plainview), junior Max Froehlich (Pierce),  and sophomore Akeem Morissaint (Delray Beach, Fla.).

Over the next four minutes, neither team held a lead larger than three points. Eventually, the Wildcats grabbed a 23-16 at the 9:15 mark after a dunk from Derrell Williams and layup by Shelby.

The Lopers battled back to cut the Wildcat lead to two, 33-31, by the break as Klein scored the last six points of the half. 

After the halftime, UNK started the second twenty minutes on a 4-0 run, getting points from Klein and true freshman Mike Dentlinger (Millard North). After Wayne tied things up at 37, they went on a 10-2 scoring spurt over the next five minutes to lead 45-37.

The Lopers didn't allow the Wayne to get bigger then eight but still trailed 58-51 with 3:06 left. Down the stretch, Wayne hurt itself at the line, making just 9 of 18 shots (50.0 percent). And, two late misses at line allowed UNK junior forward Chris Deans (Hemingford) to hit a three with 22 seconds to go to tie it at 58 and force overtime.

Another three from Deans started the extra session and allowed UNK to build its biggest lead of the game, 63-58. However, Wayne scored the game's next six points to grab the lead back.

A three by Morissaint gave the Lopers a 71-68 lead with 1:19 left. After an offensive rebound, two free throws by Williams cut the lead to one 34 seconds later.

After a Kearney timeout, a steal by Starken (team-high 19 points, four steals) and a layup by Shelby (13 points) with 34 seconds left provided the winning margin.

UNK had a chance to win but a contested three by Morissaint, from the corner, didn't fall as the buzzer sounded.

The Lopers shot 50.9 percent (27 of 53) from the field, including an 11 of 22 effort from beyond the arc. Wayne was just at 41.2 percent clip but took 15 more shots then UNK because of the turnovers.

In the paint, the Lopers grabbed 43 rebounds to the Wildcats 30. Wayne did have a plus five advantage in offensive boards and that helped them score 13 second chance points. 

True freshman wing Tim Billingsley (Parker, Colo.) added 11 points off the Loper bench, to go along with Klein's career-high 16 points and Morissaint's team-high 19 points. Seven players had at least four rebounds, led by Dentlinger with eight.

Also for Wayne, Jason Jensen had 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.

UNK returns to action Saturday afternoon on the road against Fort Hays State.