WICKS HAS CAREER NIGHT IN LEADING WOLVES TO VICTORY AT WAYNE

Dec. 29, 2001

Northern State earned its fifth straight win and second straight victory at Wayne State's hostile Rice Auditorium Saturday night with a 77-67 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory.

The Wolves (8-3, 3-0 NSIC) received a boost during the holiday break by learning they were ranked 10th in the North Central Region. The team played like a regional power from the outset, taking a 20-8 lead with 9 minutes, 20 seconds remaining in the first half. It was the fifth time this season NSU's defense has held opponents to under 10 points in the first 10 minutes of a game. Each time this under 10 in 10 occurs, NSU has went on to win.

Northern led throughout but had to stave off many Wildcat comeback attempts. Junior forward Sundance Wicks (Gillette, Wyo.) scored a career-high 26 points to go with a career-high 11 rebounds on the night. He was 9-of-14 from the field including 3-of-4 from 3-point range and also doled out four assists. Senior post Andy Foster (Caledonia, Minn.) put up his third double-double of the season, scoring 16 points to go with 10 rebounds. Junior guard Nick Schroeder (Plymouth, Minn.) rounded out NSU's double-digit scorers with 10 points. Also having a big game for his parents who drove 10 hours to be in attendance was sophomore point guard Steve Smiley (Arvada, Colo.), who tied a career high with eight assists. Wayne State (3-7 overall, 0-3 NSIC) was led by Derek Archer's 15 points.

Returning to the Northern lineup Saturday night a week ahead of schedule was senior forward Houston Reed, who broke a bone in his foot Nov. 25 at North Dakota State and has been out ever since. A starter before the injury averaging over 10 points and four rebounds per game, the Olathe, Colo., native played six minutes Saturday to get back into the flow. Senior guard Roland Williams (Ft. Worth, Texas) also returned to the lineup Saturday, playing eight minutes and scoring four points. Williams has been in and out of the lineup with back problems all season.

The Wolves will end what has has traditionally been the toughest conference road test of the year Sunday night at Southwest State (Marshall, Minn.). The Mustangs are the defending conference and North Central Region champs. After a rough start to the 2001-02 conference campaign, SSU got back on track by drubbing Minnesota-Morris 101-59 Saturday night and will be well rested and ready to take on the Wolves.