Box Score
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Southwest Minnesota State's Jon DeRock scored a career-high 24 points connecting on seven three-pointers to lead the Mustangs to a 78-73 road victory over NCAA Division I North Dakota on Tuesday night in Grand Forks, N.D.
The win was SMSU's fourth to start the season and is the program's first 4-0 start since the 1998-99 season. UND, in its first season as a Division I school, falls to 1-1 on the season. UND was coming off a road victory over Missouri-Kansas City last Friday.
SMSU shot just 30 percent in the first half (9 of 30) including just 27.3 percent from three-point range (3 of 11), but it was a different story in the second half as SMSU shot 57.7 percent in the second half (15 of 26) and connected on 7 of 12 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes.
After trailing 31-29 at halftime, SMSU took its first lead since early in the first half as DeRock drilled a three-pointer to give SMSU a 39-37 lead with 14:57 left. Following a UND field goal, SMSU answered back with back-to-back three-pointers by DeRock and Andy Beilke to build a 45-39 lead with 13:47 left.
SMSU would never trail again as UND cut the lead to two at 58-56 with 5:57 left before Taylor Huseby scored a three-point play and was followed by a three-pointer by DeRock to push the lead to 64-56 with five minutes left in the game. Huseby added another field goal to extend the lead to 66-56 and UND was never able to close the gap closer than four points the remainder of the game.
The Mustangs struggled in the opening half trailing by as many as eight points on several occasions and didn't connect on its first three-pointer until Jon DeRock drilled a three with 9:44 left in the opening half to trim the UND lead to 15-10. SMSU cut the UND lead to 28-26 on a pair of Taylor Huseby free throws with 2:26 remaining in the half and then would trail 31-26 with a minute left in the half before a basket by Kevin Andrews and a free throw by Ross DeMasi cut the North Dakota lead to 31-29 at halftime.
DeRock led the Mustangs with nine first half points on 3 of 5 shooting from three-point land while DeMasi scored six points while grabbing nine rebounds.
DeRock finished the game with making 7 of 10 shots including 7 of 9 from three-point range. He also added six rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers in 26 minutes. Nick Dale also had a solid game for SMSU as he scored a career-high 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting while also grabbing five rebounds in 19 minutes.
Huseby added 11 points off the bench along with five rebounds while Ryan Krome chipped in with 10 points.
The Mustangs finished the game shooting 42.9 percent from the field but was just 20 of 34 from the free throw line. The Fighting Sioux shot 41.5 percent but just 4 of 13 from three-point range. SMSU outrebounded its opponent for the fourth straight game as the Mustangs held a 43-40 advantage including pulling down 13 offensive rebounds.
Southwest Minnesota State will now have 10 days off before returning to action on Saturday, Nov. 29 to face Augustana in a non-conference game at the 2008 NSIC HoopsFest in Sioux Falls, S.D.
