DETROIT - Sophomore Joe Graessle had 23 points and senior Karl Finley scored 22 as the Tiffin University men's basketball team (4-8, 0-6 GLIAC) lost 82-70 to Wayne State (8-1, 5-0 GLIAC), Saturday afternoon at Matthaei Gymnasium.

It was a back and forth battle as the lead was never more than five, either way, for all but 20 seconds of the first half. Up 14-13 at the 12:20 mark, Tiffin got a jumper from senior Keenan Barlow and a triple from Graessle. That put the Dragons up, 19-13 with 11:10 to go.

Wayne State chipped away, tying the game at 22-22 at the 8:37 mark. With 4:05 to go, Tiffin got a 3-pointer from Finley and Graessle scored off a missed shot. That tied the game at 31 with 2:59 to go.

The Warriors countered with buckets from Cole Prophet and Stacey Waters to go up 36-31 with 2:19 to go. The Dragons closed the half with 3-point bombs from freshman Iman Johnson and Graessle. That gave TU the lead, 37-36 at halftime.

The second half was a battle for the first 12 minutes. Trailing by one, WSU scored seven straight points to lead, 59-53 with 8:40 to go. Tiffin then got five points from Graessle in the next 51 second to cut it to one, 59-58 at the 7:49 mark. Wayne State would score 10 straight points to end the contest.

For Tiffin, Graessle was 9-of-17 from the floor and 5-of-11 from behind the arc while Finley was 7-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-8 on 3-pointers. Senior Travis Spahr pulled down 12 rebounds and Johnson came off the bench to score nine points.

For Wayne State, Prophet had 26 points and eight assists while Waters scored 24 points. Ian Larkin had 11 points and nine rebounds.

Tiffin is off until Saturday, December 31, when they host Purdue-Calumet. The game is scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. Live Stats will be available at http://livestats.prestosports.com/tiffin/