Box Score
MARSHALL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State's Andy Beilke stole the ball from a Minnesota Duluth player with 2.4 seconds left to seal a thrilling 56-55 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory for the Mustangs in Duluth on Friday night.
SMSU held a 19-point second half lead and held a 10-point lead with three minutes left, but UMD wouldn't go away and a had a chance for the game-winning basket before Beilke made the play of the night.
SMSU was held without a field goal and scored just three points in the final 9:43 of the game.
SMSU, the fifth-ranked team in the NCAA Central Region, won its sixth game in a row and improves to 16-5 overall and is now tied for first place in the NSIC with a mark of 9-3. UMD, ranked ninth in the regional rankings, falls 14-8 overall, 8-4 NSIC.
The Mustangs started strong jumping to a 19-8 lead with 11 minutes left behind Kevin Andrews, who poured in nine points on 3 of 3 shooting in the opening nine minutes.
UMD responded with solid defense limiting SMSU to just two points over the next six minutes to trim the lead to 21-17 with five minutes in the half before Ross DeMasi and Andy Beilke combined to score six straight points to push the lead to 27-17 with just under two minutes remaining before settling for a 27-20 halftime lead.
SMSU shot 12 of 32 from the field in the opening half (37.5) and held a commanding 21-13 rebounding edge, including a 7-0 advantage on offensive rebounds. Andrews lead all scorers in the opening 20 minutes with nine points while DeMasi grabbed a team-high five first half rebounds.
The Mustangs then started the second half strong scoring the first field goal of the half and then forcing two UMD turnovers in the backcourt to push the lead to 33-20 just one minute into the second half. Jon DeRock then connected on two free throws with just under 18 minutes left to give SMSU a 37-22 lead. UMD hit two free throws to pull within 37-24, before SMSU scored four straight points to take its largest lead of the night at 41-24 with 15 minutes left in the game.
SMSU held a 53-36 lead with 9:40 left in the game before UMD rallied with a 9-0 run over the next four minutes to trim the Mustang lead to 53-45 with 4:53 on the clock. DeRock finally ended the Bulldog run with a pair of free throws to make it 55-45 with just over three minutes left.
UMD though wouldn't go away and cut the SMSU lead to 56-55 with 36 seconds left on a three-pointer by Steve Klass. The Mustangs then missed three front ends of one-and-ones to give the Bulldogs a chance for the game-winning shot in the final seconds but SMSU's Andy Beilke forced a UMD turnover with a steal with two seconds left to seal the win.
Andrews led SMSU with 12 points on 4 of 5 shooting and made SMSU's only three-pointer of the game. SMSU finished the game shooting 24 of 58 from the field (41.4), including just 1 of 7 from three-point range. DeMasi led the Mustangs with eight rebounds. SMSU finished with a 34-29 rebound advantage.
UMD was led by John Vaudreuil with 16 points, all coming in the second half.
SMSU will continue action tomorrow night with an NSIC game at Bemidji State.
