Box Score

MARSHALL, MINN.: Northern State shot a season-high 70.2 percent from the field including an amazing 16 of 19 from the field in the second half to earn an 83-62 Northern Sun Conference victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night in Marshall.

It was the sixth straight game NSU has shot 50 percent from the field as they improved to 7-1 overall, 2-1 NSIC.  SMSU drops to 4-3 overall, 2-1 NSIC.

The two teams played a tight ball game in the first half before a late first half run pushed NSU to a 36-27 lead with 2:50 left in the half.  SMSU would answer with a 5-0 run to pull within 36-32 with 1:23 remaining before the Wolves ended the first 20 minutes on a 4-0 run to take a 40-32 halftime lead.

Northern State shot 60.7 percent from the field in the first half while limiting SMSU to just 39.3 percent shooting from the field.

The Wolves held a double digit lead for the entire second half with SMSU pulling to within 10 points on two occasions, with the final time at 57-47 with 13:19 remaining.  NSU though would stop any chance of an SMSU comeback in the final 13 minutes behind its blistering shooting from the field.  The Wolves were a perfect 5 of 5 from 3-point range in the second half and finished the contest 9 of 12 from behind the three-point line.

SMSU ended the game shooting 38.6 percent from the field including just 8 of 21 from three-point range.  Junior Ross DeMasi led the SMSU offense with 13 points and seven rebounds.  Senior Matt Fletcher connected on 4 of 8 field goals for 11 points.

SMSU will continue conference play tomorrow night hosting the University of Mary at 8 p.m.