HANSON, WOLVES TAKE CARE OF No. 3 WILDCATS

Feb. 10, 1999

In a classic showdown of All-America candidates at the point guard position, NSU junior floor general Scott Hanson (Tolna, N.D.) and the Wolves triumphed in a 84-73 win over No. 3 Wayne State College (Neb.) Wednesday night in the Barnett Center.

Hanson led all scorers with a career-high 24 points and tied for the game lead in rebounds with eight. He shot 7-of-12 from the field, 2-of-3 from beyond the arc and a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe. His line also includes four assists and two steals.

The nation's third-ranked and North Central Region's first-ranked Wildcats were led by point guard Tyler Johnson, who scored 22 points to go along with three assists and two rebounds. Jason Diaz pulled down eight rebounds in the loss.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair that ended in a near dead-heat with NSU clinging to a 41-40 lead. But a 16-8 Wayne run to open the second half gave the Wildcats a 56-49 edge with 12 minutes, 41 seconds remaining. It was their largest lead. NSU immediately stopped the bleeding with six unanswered points and slowly started to pull away.

Ahead 75-71 with 29 seconds left, Hanson applied the dagger. After two straight technicals on Wayne's bench, Hanson cooly drained the four consecutive resulting free throws to ice the game. His pass to senior forward Kyle Johnson (Coon Rapids, Minn.) for an emphatic throw-down as time expired was icing for Wolves and their fans, much to the chagrin of three busloads of once-frenzied Wayne State fans. The loss snapped a 17-game winning streak for the 20-3 Wildcats. The teams have defended home court to split their series for five straight years.

In his first career start -- for injured junior guard Dan Fischer (Bagley, Minn.) -- sophomore guard Jared Miller (Mitchell, S.D.) scored 21 points. All five NSU starters scored in double digits. After struggling from the field most of the night, senior forward Mark Rich (Aberdeen, S.D.) hit a huge three and grabbed some key rebounds down the stretch, ending with 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists.