BEMIDJI, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State, ranked fifth in the latest NCAA Central Region rankings, won its seventh straight game defeating Bemidji State 66-54 on Saturday night in Bemidji, Minn.  The seven-game win streak is the second longest winning streak in school history. 

SMSU is now 17-5 overall and tied with Winona State for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings with 10-3 records.

SMSU started the game strong jumping out to an 11-2 lead with just under 14 minutes left forcing four BSU turnovers and highlighted by back-to-back jumpers from Andy Beilke.  BSU trimmed the lead to 11-5, before SMSU answered back with a 7-0 run capped by a three-pointer by Ryan Krome to give the Mustangs an 18-5 lead with 10:23 left.

The Mustangs continued to pour it on and pushed the lead to 26-10 with seven minutes remaining in the half on a pair of free throws by Andrew Peschong.  SMSU had chances to extend the lead but wasn't able to convert on offense, scoring just six points in the final seven minutes and BSU was able to cut the deficit to 32-24 at halftime.

SMSU finished the opening half shooting just 38.7 percent (12 of 31) from the field and making just 6 of 11 free throws.  The Mustangs held a 23-14 rebound advantage in the opening half.

Bemidji State continued to cut into the lead to start the second half pulling to within 44-37 with 12:16 left before SMSU answered to push the margin to 48-39 with 10:45 remaining on a three-pointer by Krome.

Both teams struggled offensively in the next few minutes before Beilke connected on a huge three-pointer with 7:26 left to put the Mustangs up 52-41.  On the next SMSU possession DeMasi scored to push the lead to 54-41 with just under seven minutes remaining in the game.

BSU had one last charge and cut the SMSU lead to 57-49 with 3:18 left, but six straight points for the Mustangs put the game away.  DeMasi scored with 3:09 left to give SMSU a 10-point lead and Krome then followed with four straight free throws to make the score 63-49 with 2:25 left and SMSU never looked back.

Krome led SMSU with 14 points, while DeMasi finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.  Beilke added 13 points to round out the Mustang double figure scoring.

SMSU ended the evening making 23 of 56 shots (41.1) from the field, but was just 15 of 29 from the free throw line (51.7).

Seth Haake led Bemidji State with 10 points.

Southwest Minnesota State will now step out of NSIC play on Tuesday, Feb. 4 for a non-conference home game versus NCAA Division I University of North Dakota.  Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at the R/A Facility in Marshall.  SMSU returns to conference action next weekend with road games at MSU Moorhead and Minnesota, Crookston.