Box Score

MANKATO, MINN.: Minnesota State, Mankato snapped a 43-43 halftime tie with a 19-0 in the first nine and a half minutes of the second half to earn an 81-72 non-conference victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Tuesday night in Mankato.

The Mavericks score the first 19 points of the half before Ryan Krome snapped the Mustang scoreless streak with a field goal with 10:12 left in the half.

SMSU rallied to cut the MSU lead to 11 with 8:15 remaining on a Krome three-pointer and then trimmed the lead to 76-69 with another three-pointer by Krome with 2:10 remaining but the Maverick lead was just too much for SMSU to overcome.

Minnesota State improves to 14-4 overall while Southwest Minnesota State falls to 10-8 on the season.

The Mustangs shot just 10 of 31 from the field in the second half for 32.3 percent.

The two teams played to a 43-43 halftime score behind solid shooting by both squads.  SMSU trailed for the game's first eight minutes before taking its first lead at the 11:22 mark on a pair of Andrew Peschong free throws.  SMSU held a six-point 27-21 lead with nine minutes left in the half before MSU rallied to regain a 28-27 lead with 6:43 left. 

The Mustangs then rallied back and retook the lead on a pair of Nick Dale field goals with just over five minutes remaining in the half.

SMSU shot 55.2 percent (16 of 29) from the field in the opening half including 3 of 6 from three-point range.  SMSU also held a 17-11 rebound advantage in the first half.

Krome led the way for SMSU with a career-high 21 points on 6 of 9 shooting.  Matt Fletcher finished with 16 points and hit a game-high four three-pointers.

SMSU returns to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action this weekend with two home games.  SMSU will take on Minnesota, Crookston on Friday, Jan. 25 and Bemidji State on Saturday, Jan. 26.  Saturday's game is the annual “Hawaiian Night” contest.