Box Score

WINONA, MINN.: Northern State's Kevin Ratzsch scored with 13 seconds left to snap a 70-70 tie and helped lead the Wolves to a thrilling 74-70 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in the semifinal of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament in Winona, Minn.

NSU, ranked No. 4 in the nation and No. 2 in the NCAA regional rankings, improves to 27-2 overall while SMSU, ranked No. 8 in the NCAA rankings, falls to 17-12.

Northern State will now advance to the NSIC tournament championship game on Saturday night.  SMSU will now wait until Sunday night to see if they will be selected into the NCAA tournament. 

It was the second straight loss for Southwest Minnesota State versus Northern State in the final seconds.  On Feb. 2 NSU snapped a tie and won by two points scoring with 12 seconds left in the contest.

On Friday night, both teams shot great from the field in the final 20 minutes but the final basket of the game was the biggest for NSU.  SMSU, which trailed 34-30 at halftime, saw the Wolves extend its lead to 59-45 with 9:28 left on a Ratzsch three-pointer.  SMSU stepped up its defense and responded with a 16-3 run to pull within 62-61 with 4:14 remaining following a basket by Kevin Andrews. 

NSU pushed the lead back to six at 68-62 following a pair of three-pointers by Craig Nelson and Ratzsch.  SMSU though wouldn't quit and pulled to within 68-66 on field goals by Andrew Peschong with 2:09 left and Ross DeMasi with 1:11 left in the game.  NSU scored with 37 seconds left to build a 70-66 lead but Ryan Krome answered back for SMSU with a basket and was fouled on the play to pull SMSU to within 70-68 with 30 seconds left.  Krome missed the ensuing free throw but Andrews grabbed the rebound and scored with the put back to tie the game at 70-70. 

On the Wolves' next possession Ratzsch scored to retake the lead for NSU at 72-70.  SMSU attempted to tie the game with five seconds left but Krome lost the handle on the ball and was tied up forcing a jump ball.  The possession arrow favored the Wolves and following two free throws by Nelson the game was out of reach for SMSU.

SMSU finished the game with a 36-28 rebound advantage and shot 44.1 percent from the field (26 of 59) but was just 35.3 percent (6 of 17) from three-point range.  NSU ended the game connecting on 50.9 percent of its shots (27 of 53) including 46.7 percent (7 of 15) from the behind the arc.

Taylor Huseby scored a career-high 11 points to help lead the Mustang offense while Travis Krenske led the team with 14 points.  DeMasi recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Nelson led all scorers with 21 points on 6 of 11 shooting.

The game began great for SMSU as it jumped to an early 7-0 lead in the game's first two minutes.  The Mustangs held 21-12 and 25-20 leads midway through the half before the Wolves defense stiffened and held SMSU scoreless for over seven minutes building a 32-25 lead with 2:21 left in the half.  Krenkse stopped the Mustang scoreless streak with a three-pointer with 1:19 left to trim the deficit to 32-28.  The two teams traded baskets in the final minute as Northern State held a 34-30 halftime lead.

SMSU shot just 35.3 percent in the opening half including just 3 of 12 from behind the arc.  Huseby led SMSU with a team-high seven points in the first half.

SMSU will now need help to make its second ever NCAA tournament bid.  SMSU, ranked No. 8 in the region, got help on Friday as No. 9 seed Nebraska-Kearney lost to Colorado Christian.  No. 10 Adams State was already eliminated from its conference tournament.  SMSU will need Ft. Lewis, the No. 4 ranked team in the region, to beat Colorado Christian on Saturday night and hope North Dakota fails to win the North Central Conference tournament as well.

The NCAA tournament field will be announced on Sunday night at 9:30 p.m.