Chene Phillips played every minute of Wayne State's game with Tiffin University, and made the most of his time on the court.
The Division I transfer from Liberty scored 29 points, had four assists, two steals and seven rebounds.
And he also had the unenviable task of defending Joe Graessle for much of the evening.
Despite the fact that Graessle finished with 23 points and went over 1,000 for his career, he never really got going, and Wayne State held off the Dragons for an 83-71 win.
"More than anything, (Phillips) guarded Joe the whole time," Wayne State coach David Greer said. "(Phillips) has been outstanding for the first two games."
Graessle finished 9 of 26 from the floor, just 1 of 8 from 3-point range. The Warriors saw to it that he wasn't open very often.
"With a player like (Graessle), he draws that type of attention. He's an outstanding scorer."
TU really struggled on offense in the first half, making just 9 of 29 shots and going into the locker room down 38-25.
"We didn't shoot well enough in the first half," Tiffin coach John Hill said. "We wanted to push. We wanted them to play fast. We got (the Warriors) in foul trouble, but we didn't get any of them to foul out."
Tiffin trailed 43-30 early in the second half after a layup by Phillips, but responded by going on a run. A 3-pointer by Eric Roby and a three-point play by Michael Bouley brought keyed a 14-5 stretch, which brought Tiffin within 47-43 with 12:51 left in regulation.
Roby, a freshman, played very well, finishing with 17 points and seven rebounds. Cody Dennison was the other Dragon to score in double figures. He had 12 points, five rebounds, five assists.
But despite the Dragons playing well in the second half, the Warriors didn't let up. After watching its lead get shaved to four points, Wayne State responded with a 7-2 run, and for the most part, never looked back. It finished with six players scoring in double figures, and won rebounding 39-32. It also got to the free throw line 32 times, making 26.
Gerald Williams-Taylor had 14 points for the Warriors, with Mike Hollingsworth collecting 13 points and a team-best nine rebounds.
The only bright spot late for TU was when Graessle went over 1,000 points for his career. He received a warm ovation from the fans at the Gillmor Center.
"That's a great accomplishment [to get] in the first league game of your junior year," Hill said.
