MARSHALL, Minn. – St. Cloud State held off a late Southwest Minnesota State rally to earn its 10th victory in a row with a 72-67 victory on Friday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference basketball in Marshall.

SCSU held a 69-57 lead with 2:25 left in the game, but SMSU scored 10 straight points in less than two minutes to cut the deficit to 69-67 with 36 seconds left.  SCSU's Taylor Witt was fouled with 22 seconds remaining and made just one of two free throws to give SMSU a chance to tie the game, but the Mustangs turned the ball over with 13 seconds remaining and Witt then connected on a pair of free throws to seal the victory for the Huskies.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for SCSU versus SMSU and earned its first victory in Marshall since the 2002-03 season.  The loss was SMSU's first at home this season in eight games.

SCSU used outstanding rebounding in earning the victory finishing with a 39-33 advantage, including 17 offensive rebounds, which led to 15 second chance points.  SCSU outscored SMSU 42-26 in the paint.

Theo Rothstein scored a career-high 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting to help lead the Huskies, while Brett Putz added 17 points and seven rebounds.

Andrew Peschong and Taylor Huseby each led the Mustangs with 10 points apiece, while Trent Carlson scored nine points off the bench with three three-pointers.

The two teams battled in the opening 15 minutes with neither holding a lead of more than four points.  SCSU then opened a 21-21 tie with 5:49 left in the opening half with a 9-0 run to take a 30-21 lead with 3:23 on the clock.  SMSU's Trent Carlson ended the run with a three-pointer but SCSU closed the half with a 9-2 run to build a 39-26 halftime lead.

SCSU was dominate on the offensive glass with 11 offensive rebounds and held a 24-18 rebound advantage at halftime.  SMSU shot just 33.3 percent in the half, including 1 of 7 from three-point range.

Both squads shot outstanding in the second half, with SMSU shooting 53.6 percent in the final 20 minutes, while SCSU shot 48.3 percent.  The hot-shooting in the second helped the Huskies hold off numerous Mustang rally attempts.  SMSU trimmed the deficit to eight points on four occasions in the first 10 minutes of the half, but the Huskies held off the charge and eventually pushed the lead to 61-47, its largest lead of the night, with 8:14 left in the game. 

SCSU maintained a double-digit lead with 2:25 remaining until Jordan Miller drilled a three-pointer to make it 69-60 with 2:14 remaining.  Following a SCSU turnover, Scott Roehl hit a jumper to pull SMSU to within 69-62 with 1:49 left.  SCSU the missed a free throw and Roehl answered with another basket to trim the lead to 69-64 with just 1:18 left.  The Mustang defense then picked up an important stop on defense and Miller connected on a long-range three-pointer to pull SMSU to 69-67, but that was as close as the Mustangs could get.

SMSU finished the game shooting 43.6 percent from the field (24 of 55), including 7 of 19 from three-point range.  SCSU ended the evening shooting 44.4 percent (28 of 63), including just 2 of 13 from three-point range.

The Mustangs will look to rebound tomorrow night hosting Concordia University, St. Paul starting at 8 p.m.  CU lost 84-63 to NSIC leading Minnesota State on Friday night.