Box Score

MARSHALL, MINN.: The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team moved to 2-0 on the season with an 83-59 victory over Hamline University in Marshall on Saturday night.  The 2-0 start is SMSU's first since the 2001-02 season.

The highlight of the night came with with 2:41 remaining in the first half as senior Matt Fletcher hit two free throws and in the process became the 14th SMSU men's basketball player to score 1,000 career points.

Hamline, playing its first game of the season, jumped  to a 7-0 lead in the game's first three minutes, before SMSU rallied and took its first lead of the game with 13:25 remaining in the half on a free throw by Nick Dale.

The Mustangs then caught fire in the final 10 minutes of the half and finished the first 20 minutes of play shooting 54.8 percent from the field and took a 45-20 halftime lead.

SMSU continued its hot shooting in the second half connecting on 14 of 27 shots (51.9) and built its largest lead of the game at 69-35 with 8:01 remaining in the game.  SMSU finished the night shooting 31 of 58 from the field (53.4) including 8 of 17 from three-point range.

Travis Krenske led SMSU with 16 points as he drilled a game-high four three-pointers on six attempts.  Fletcher and Kevin Andrews rounded out the double figure scorers for SMSU with 10 points each.  SMSU played 13 players in the game and all but one scored at least two points.  Andrew Peschong was solid for SMSU as well with seven points, nine rebounds, six steals and three assists.

Carl Hipp scored a team-high 16 points for Hamline.

SMSU, 2-0, will continue non-conference action next weekend at the Southern Indiana Classic in Evansville, Ind.  SMSU will open with nationally ranked Southern Indiana on Friday, Nov. 23 before taking on Bellarmine (Ky.) on Saturday, Nov. 24.