GAME NOTES

THIS WEEK: The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team (13-11, 8-10 NSIC) concludes the 2009-10 home season on Wednesday, Feb. 24, taking on Wayne State College (12-13, 9-9 NSIC) in a critical Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game starting at 8 p.m. at the SMSU R/A Facility.
    SMSU, which is on a three-game losing streak, enters Wednesday's game in a three-way tie for eighth place in the NSIC standings along with Northern State and Upper Iowa and is one-game behind seventh place Wayne State.  The top eight teams in the regular season standings qualify for the 2010 NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament.  Northern State plays at MSU Moorhead on Wednesday night, while Upper Iowa plays at Winona State.  Southwest Minnesota State will conclude the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Northern State.
    Wayne State, on a three-game winning streak, enters Wednesday's game ranked first in the NSIC in both scoring defense (65.1) and rebound margin (+5.9), while also ranking 22nd in the nation in rebound margin (+6.4).  WSC is also 27th in the nation in field goal pct. (48.7) and 36th in scoring defense (64.4).