Box Score
CROOKSTON, MINN.: Southwest Minnesota State limited Minnesota, Crookston to just 30.4 percent shooting in the second half and held the Golden Eagles to just eight points in the first ten minutes of the second half to cruise to a 76-58 Northern Sun Conference road victory on Saturday night.
The victory was SMSU's second in a row and improves its record to 4-2 overall, 2-0 NSIC. UMC drops to 1-5 overall, 0-2 NSIC.
SMSU, which trailed just once in the game at 5-4, was red-hot shooting in the first 20 minutes of the game in buidling a 33-19 lead with 6:33 left in the first half. SMSU would finish the half shooting 53.8 percent from the field and took a 41-31 halftime lead.
Both teams struggled shooting in the early stages of the second half before Nick Dale scored the first points of the half with 16 minutes left in the game. UMC would pull to within 43-37 with 14:48 left in the half before the Mustangs responsed with an 9-0 in the next three minutes to push the lead to 52-37 and SMSU would never look back in earning its 19th victory over UMC in 22 all-time meetings.
Southwest finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field which included connecting on 8 of 11 from three-point range. The Mustangs also outrebounded the Golden Eagles 36-24 marking the sixth time in six games this season that SMSU has outrebounded its opponents.
Senior Travis Krenske led SMSU with a game-high 15 points while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing out five assists. Sophomore Kevin Andrews scored a season-high 14 points off the bench hitting on 4 of 6 shots from the field and a perfect 5 of 5 from the free throw line. Junior Ross DeMasi added 12 points to help the SMSU offense while senior Matt Fletcher rounded out the double figure scoring for SMSU with 11 points.
SMSU will now return home to continue conference play next weekend hosting Northern State on Friday, Dec. 7 beginning at 8 p.m. in Marshall. The Mustangs will then host the University of Mary on Saturday, Dec. 8.
Ross DeMasi scored 12 points on Saturday night
Travis Krenske goes up for two of his game-high 15 points
