MARSHALL, Minn. – No. 7-ranked and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference leading Minnesota State, Mankato, showed why its atop the league standings shooting 66.7 percent in the second half to earn an 81-64 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday night in Marshall.

MSU (23-2, 16-2 NSIC) with the victory maintains its one-game lead in the conference standings over St. Cloud State with two games remaining.  With the loss, SMSU (13-11, 8-10 NSIC) drops into a tie for eighth place in the standings along with Northern State and Upper Iowa.

The Mavericks opened a tight 43-39 lead with 15 minutes and 43 second remaining in the game putting together a 14-7 run to build its first double-digit lead of the game at 57-46 with 9:54 left and never looked back.  SMSU did cut the lead to 57-49 with 9:22 left on a 3-pointer by Trent Carlson, but the Mavericks put the game away with an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to extend the margin to 65-49.

Jefferson Mason led five MSU players in double figures with 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting with four steals and four assists.  Taylor Morrow poured in 15 points off the bench on 7 of 8 shooting from the field.  Travis Nelson chipped in with 14 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Kevin Andrews led all scorers with 21 points on 5 of 8 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

MSU finished the game shooting 58.5 percent (31 of 53), the 13th time this season the Mavericks have shot 50 percent or better from the field.  The Mavericks also held a 35-30 rebound advantage in the game and outscored the Mustangs 44-20 in the paint. 

The two squads played a tight opening half with neither team holding a lead of five points or more, while the half saw six lead changes and four ties.

The Mustangs shot just 30.4 percent (7 of 23) in the first half, but used solid rebounding in the first seven minutes to build a 14-9 lead with 12 minutes and 48 seconds remaining.  SMSU held a 13-3 advantage in rebounds in the game's first seven minutes, but the Mavericks held strong and were able to pull to within one point on three occasions over the next five minutes, but were never able to take the lead.

SMSU pushed the lead 23-18 with 5:49 remaining following a pair of Andrew Peschong free throws and a jumper from DeAnthony Zanders.

MSU, which shot 50 percent (13 of 26) in the opening half, countered with a 7-1 run in the next two minutes to take its first lead of the half since the opening minute of the game.  The Mavericks pushed the margin to 34-29 with 55 seconds left in the half before settling for a 34-31 halftime lead.

 Southwest Minnesota State will close out its home schedule with a crucial contest on Wednesday, Feb. 24, taking on Wayne State starting at 8 p.m.  The Wildcats, which defeated SMSU in double overtime on Jan. 23 in Wayne, Neb., hold a one-game lead over SMSU and Northern State for seventh place in the NSIC standings.