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MARSHALL, Minn. - No. 22 Southwest Minnesota State rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to earn a 69-62 victory over Lewis University (Ill.) on Friday night at the State Farm Insurance Classic in Marshall.
SMSU improves to 2-0 on the season, while Lewis drops to 1-1.
SMSU senior DeAnthony Zanders, who missed the season opener on Tuesday with an injury, scored all of his eight points in the second half, including a clutch three-pointer with with 36 seconds left in the game to give the Mustangs a seven-point lead and seal the victory. Zanders finished with eight points, tied a career-high with seven rebounds and dished out a team-high five assists.
SMSU redshirt freshman Jordan Miller scored a game-high 19 points on 6 of 9 shooting, including drilling 5 of 8 three-point field goals.
Lewis built a 31-24 halftime lead as the Flyers defense limited SMSU to just 31 percent shooting the opening half. SMSU answered strong to start the second half scoring the first 13 points to build a 37-31 lead with 16:44 remaining in the game.
The Mustangs would maintain the lead for the next five minutes before Lewis regained the lead with 10:39 on the clock with a Justin Jarosz three-pointer to give the Flyers a 45-42 lead. Lewis would hold a 51-47 lead with 7:45 remaining in the game before SMSU started connecting on three-pointers. Miller hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to 51-50 and following two Lewis free throws, Miller drilled another three-pointer with 5:20 left to tie the game at 53-53.
The game was tied at 55-55 with just under four and a half minutes left in the game before SMSU went on a game-deciding 6-0 run. Lewis head coach Scott Trost was called with a technical foul with 4:23 left and Miller hit one of two free throws. Miller then pushed the lead to 59-55 with four minutes left on his five three-pointer of the game. Following a stop by the SMSU defense, Zanders extended the lead to 61-55 with just under three minutes remaining with a lay-up on a pass from Kevin Andrews.
Lewis would cut the margin to 61-57 with 2:30 remaining, but neither team could score in the next two minutes until Zanders sealed the win with his second three-pointer of the night.
Senior Jon DeRock was the only other Mustang in double figure scoring with 10 points on 4 of 7 shooting.
SMSU, which outrebounded Lewis 32-31 in the game, held an 18-3 advantage in second chance points and scored 17 points off of 16 Lewis turnovers. Zanders led SMSU with seven rebounds, while Andrews added six rebounds.
Matt Toth led Lewis with 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting.
SMSU finished the game shooting 38.7 percent from the field (24 of 62), including 10 of 26 from three-point range. Lewis shot 50 percent (22 of 44) from the field, but was just 4 of 12 on three-pointers.
SMSU will conclude the classic tomorrow night hosting Bellevue (Neb.) (3-3) at 8 p.m. Lewis will face Upper Iowa (0-2) at 3 p.m.