SMSU Advances to NSIC Tournament Semifinals

Box Score

MARSHALL, MINN.: No. 3 seeded Southwest Minnesota State had five players score in double figures and held a 34-21 rebound advantage to earn a 76-63 victory over No. 6 seed Upper Iowa University in the quarterfinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament in Marshall on Saturday night.

SMSU, ranked No. 9 in the latest NCAA regional rankings, will now face No. 2 seed Northern State in the semifinals of the tournament on Friday, Mar. 7 in Winona, Minn., beginning at 6 p.m. Northern State will enter the game ranked No. 4 in the country with an overall record of 26-2. NSU beat SMSU twice during the regular season, winning 83-62 in Marshall on Dec. 7 and 71-69 in Aberdeen, S.D., on Feb. 2.

SMSU is now 17-11 overall, while UIU ends its season at 9-19. The victory was also SMSU's 12th at home this season tying for the second most in school history.

In tonight's game SMSU never trailed in the game jumping to a 25-11 lead in the game's first 11 minutes and never looked back in building an 18-point lead late in the opening half. SMSU senior Travis Krenske, playing his final game at home, led SMSU with 11 first half points as he connected on 5 of 8 shots from the field. Upper Iowa scored the final four points of the half to cut the SMSU lead to 39-25 at halftime. SMSU shot 50 percent in the opening half and held a 17-7 rebound advantage and didn't allow Upper Iowa one offensive rebound.

In the second half, Upper Iowa cut the SMSU lead to nine points on two occasions in the first five and a half minutes but SMSU pushed back the upset minded Peacocks each time and the lead never dipped below 10 points the remainder of the game.

Krenkse led the Mustangs with a game-high 17 points with Ross DeMasi adding 12 points and six rebounds. DeMasi finished the game connecting on a career-high 10 free throws on 13 attempts. Andy Beilke came off the bench to score a season-high 11 points while Matt Fletcher added 11 points and Andrew Pecschong chipped in with 10.

SMSU attempted a season-high 37 free throw making 23 but was just 17 of 29 in the final half. The Mustangs finished the night shooting 24 of 47 from the field (51.1) including 5 of 16 from three-point range (31.3). UIU shot 50 percent from the field (25 of 50) but was just 4 of 15 from behind the arc.

Fletcher, Krenske and Darren Solbrack all played their final games at the R/A Facility.

AJ Adkins led Upper Iowa with 12 points hitting on a team-high two three-pointers.

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