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MARSHALL, Minn. – Wayne State put together a strong second half defensive effort to open a 10-point halftime lead and earn a 38-20 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday night in Marshall.

Wayne State improved to 4-1 overall, 3-1 in the NSIC, winning its second straight game, while SMSU dropped its third straight game after starting 2-0 and is now 2-3 overall, 1-3 NSIC. The victory was also the sixth straight for WSC over SMSU since 2005.

Wayne State's Fredrick Bruno, a 2009 All-America, led the Wildcats with six receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns and also returned an SMSU kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown.

Evan Johnson completed 16 of 20 passes for 193 yards and two touchdown passes, while also rushing for 78 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries.

SMSU was held to 267 yards of offense, its fourth straight game being held under 300 yards.

SMSU's John Kersbergen led all players in the game with 10 tackles, while Levi Reiff and Paul Muecke each added nine stops.

Warren Matthews led the SMSU offensive attack with a team-high 53 yards rushing and one touchdown on nine carries, while also finishing with four receptions for 83 yards and one touchdown. SMSU quarterback Ryan Ratekin completed 15 of 26 pass attempts for 159 yards and one touchdown.

Wayne State entered the game averaging 36.5 points per game and showed its high-powered attack in the opening quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns on its opening two drives. The Wildcats moved 75 yards in eight plays on the game's first possession with Johnson capping the scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 11 minutes and 49 seconds left in the opening quarter.

Following an SMSU punt on its opening drive, WSC put together an impressive 16-play, 73-yard drive that lasted nearly eight minutes with Johnson completing a 6-yard touchdown pass to Bruno to make the score 14-0 with 2:48 left in the first quarter.

SMSU answered on its next drive with Matthews doing most of the damage. A five-yard run, followed by a 10-yard run by Matthews moved the ball to the WSC 45-yard line. Two plays later, facing third-and-six from the WSC 41-yard line, Ratekin found Matthews open down the middle of the field for a 41-yard touchdown pass to trim the WSC lead to 14-7 with 16 seconds left in the quarter.

The momentum SMSU gained was quickly lost just 13 seconds later as Bruno, who entered the game averaging 40 yard per kick return with one touchdown on five attempts this season, returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead back to 14 points at 21-7 with three seconds remaining in the first quarter.

SMSU answered once again and put together another scoring drive, this time moving 57 yards in 10 plays with Matthews plowing in from three yards out for his first career rushing touchdown to cut the lead to 21-14 with 9:05 remaining in the half.

Following punts by both teams, WSC pushed across three points on its final drive of the half as Nick Bell booted a 33-yard field goal with 12 seconds left in the half to build a 24-14 halftime lead.

In the third quarter it was the Wildcat defense that made the difference forcing five punts on SMSU's first five possessions of the half, allowing just three first downs. The strong defense allowed WSC to add to the lead as Johnson fired a 22-yard touchdown pass to Bruno with 4:33 left in the quarter to make it 31-14, then capped WSC's scoring early in the fourth quarter with a 5-yard touchdown run to make it 38-14 with 13:27 left in the game.

SMSU was able to add one final touchdown late in the game as back-up quarterback Tyler Peschong led a 60-yard, 6-play drive capped by a touchdown pass to Lester Lewis from 27 yards out to make the score 38-20 with 2:38 left in the game.

Southwest Minnesota State will look to snap its losing streak next week with a home match-up versus MSU Moorhead starting at 6 p.m.