Box Score
ST. PAUL, MINN. – Southwest Minnesota State opened up a 10-point halftime lead with a 20-0 run to start the second half and cruised to an 80-62 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory over Concordia on Saturday night in St. Paul, Minn.
The win was SMSU's sixth in its last seven games and improves its record to 13-5 overall, 6-3 NSIC. CU drops its sixth straight game and is 6-10 overall, 4-5 NSIC.
SMSU continued its fine away from home and is now 9-3 in road/neutral site games this season.
The Mustangs started the game slowly making just two of their first nine shots, but solid defense kept SMSU close before taking its first lead of the game at 11-10 with 11:20 remaining on a three-pointer by Jon DeRock.
CU regained the lead briefly before SMSU answered with a 13-0 run to build a 24-12 lead with 4:40 left on two free throws by Ryan Krome. The Golden Bears finally scored to end a six minute scoreless streak but SMSU continued to hold a double-digit lead, including holding a 13-point lead with just under four minutes remaining in the half on a lay-up by Andrew Peschong before taking a 30-20 lead into halftime.
SMSU dominated on the boards in the opening half with 26 total rebounds, including 12 on the offensive end, compared to just 14 total boards for CU.
DeMasi paced the Mustangs with eight points and eight rebounds in the opening half, while Taylor Huseby added six points and three rebounds. SMSU outscored CU 16-6 in the paint and had 10 second chance points.
SMSU shot just 11 of 34 from the field (32.4), but the Mustang defense forced nine Golden Bear turnovers and held CU to just 8 of 26 shooting (30.8).
The Mustangs opened the second half on an amazing 20-0 run forcing three CU turnovers and pushing the lead to 50-20 with 14:32 left highlighted by a three-pointer by DeRock, back-to-back lay-ups by DeMasi and Huseby and a three-pointer by DeAnthony Zanders.
Concordia responded with an 10-0 run to trim the lead to 50-30 with 12:31 left in the game but SMSU was able to stop the charge and go on to cruise to the victory.
Huseby led the Mustang offense with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting and finished the weekend scoring 38 points after scoring a career-high 22 points in the win over St. Cloud State last night. Scott Roehl added a season-high 12 points on a perfect 4 of 4 from the field and 4 of 4 from the foul line. DeMasi rounded out the Mustang double figure scoring with 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
SMSU finished the game connecting on 30 of 64 from the field (46.9), but was just 3 of 16 from three-point range. The Mustangs held a 40-25 rebound advantage and made 17 of 19 free throws for a season-high 89.5 percent.
Craig Heiman led Concordia with 22 points and nine rebounds.
Southwest Minnesota State returns home next weekend to host Augustana on Friday, Jan. 24 and Wayne State on Saturday, Jan. 25. Saturday night's game is the annual Hawaiian Night game.
