Jan. 20, 1999
Northern State junior guard Scott Hanson played Wayne State senior standout Tyler Johnson to a standstill, but the No. 7 Wildcats defended homecourt with a hard-fought 78-70 win over No. 6 Northern State Wednesday night.

Johnson, an All-America candidate, scored 17 points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out five assists, had one block and two steals. Hanson's line read: 16 points, five boards and seven assists.

Aside from the dueling point guards, Wayne State had three other players break into double digits in scoring, led by Brad Joens' 21 points. For NSU, much of the offense came in the form of one player: sophomore reserve guard Jared Miller (Mitchell, S.D.). Miller, who has led the Wolves in scoring in each game of the team's current three-game road swing, rang up 24 points on 50 percent shooting from the field, including six treys.

The Wildcats (15-2) built a five-to-10 point lead early in the first half and kept it throughout much of the game. The Wolves (13-4)  cut the cushion to four points with just over eight minutes remaining, but it was as close as they'd come. WSC hit six of its last eight free throws to help ice the game in the final two minutes. The Wildcats have won 41 of their last 43 games in hostile Rice Auditorium and have now won their last 12 games overall, tying a school record.

More important than the national rankings heading into this game for WSC were the North Central Regional rankings. Until Wayne State becomes a full-fledged member of the NSIC next season and can get into the NCAA II post season by winning the conference, its only hope of making post-season play as an independent school is by an at-large berth. That means beating ranked teams like Northern State when the opportunity presents itself. The No. 6 Wolves vs. the No. 7 Wildcats make for nice headlines, but the only rankings that really matter are those that come from the region, where Wayne State is currently in first while Northern resides at eighth.