Tampa fall to Wayne State in Thanksgiving Classic

St. Petersburg, Fl. – The University of Tampa Spartans Men's Basketball team falls short in a late comeback effort to the Wayne State Wildcats.

Final: Wayne State Wildcats 72, Tampa Spartans 63

Records: Tampa (1-3, 1-0 SSC), Wayne State (5-1, 1-0 SSC)

Location: McArthur Center || St. Petersburg, Fl.

All-Time Series: The Wildcats win their first-ever meeting over the Spartans.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

The Spartans jumped to a quick 4-0 lead over the Wildcats. After a few made baskets by both teams including 2 straight from De'Andre Harvey the Spartans found themselves down in a 3-point deficit. Wayne State followed Harvey's baskets with a short 4-0 run to extend their lead to 7 with a little under 13 minutes left in the first half. The Spartans cut it to 30-26 with a layup by Tyson Leitao. However, the Wildcats went on a 6-0 run in the final 4 minutes and kept the Spartans out of the score column to go into the half with a 12-point lead. || Score: 34-22 Wayne State

SECOND HALF

After a three-pointer to open the second half up, the Wildcats went on an 8-0 run to expand their lead to 42-25 with a little over 15 minutes of play left. The Spartans followed the Wildcats 8-0 run with one for themselves to cut the Wildcat's lead back to 9 with two jump shots from Mykah Brown and one layup from Bryant Brown. With back-and-forth basketball for over ten minutes, the Wildcats extended their lead to 15 with a little less than 5 minutes left. The Spartans then went on a 9-0 run but didn't have enough time to complete the comeback and ended up falling short to the Wildcats.   || Score: 72-63 Wildcats

INSIDE THE STATS

• Three Spartans scored in double digits tonight: Senior Jonathan Bryant II (19), Senior Mykah Brown (13), and Sophomore De'Andre Harvey (12).
• The Spartans had 17 turnovers compared to the Wildcats' 7. 

BEYOND THE BOX

• Jonathan Bryant II recorded 19 points and 3 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench.
• Tampa led 22-15 in bench points and 24-18 in points in the paint.
• The Spartans and Wildcats both shot 44% from the field.

UP NEXT: The Spartans try to rebound from today's performance with their matchup against Davenport tomorrow at 5 pm in the Thanksgiving Classic.

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