Box Score

WINONA, MINN.: Winona State, the No. 5 ranked team in the country, extended its conference winning streak to 34 straight with a thrilling 76-65 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night in Winona.

SMSU's Travis Krenske connected on a three-pointer with 2:03 left in the game to pull the Mustangs to within 67-65.  WSU's Quincy Henderson made two free throws with 1:33 remaining to push the lead to four and the Warriors held SMSU in check in the final 90 seconds to earn the victory and improve to 14-1 overall, 4-0 NSIC.  SMSU drops its second straight and falls to 8-5, 3-2 NSIC.

SMSU scored the first points of the game on a Travis Krenske three-pointer but WSU took the lead at 4-3 and held the lead for the next eight minutes before SMSU tied the score at 16-16 with 11:08 left in the opening half.

The two teams battled for the remainder of the first half with the Warriors taking a 36-29 lead late in the half before SMSU closed on a 4-0 run to cut the WSU lead to 36-33 at halftime.

In the second half SMSU took the lead on several occasions but WSU was able to answer every Mustang basket to regain the lead.  SMSU took its largest lead of the second half on a three-pointer by Andrew Peschong with 13:17 remaining to give the Mustangs a 52-50 lead.  Winona State though stepped up its defense and held SMSU scoreless for the next four minutes and never gave up the lead.

Ross DeMasi and Krenske paced the SMSU offense with 15 points while DeMasi grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.  Matt Fletcher rounded out the double figure scoring for the Mustangs with 12 points.

Winona State held a 38-31 rebound advantage becoming the first SMSU opponent this season to hold a rebound edge on SMSU. 

The Mustangs finished the game shooting 25 of 59 from the field (42.4) including 9 of 21 from three-point range. 

SMSU will continue its road trip tomorrow night at Upper Iowa beginning at 8 p.m.