NSIC TOURNAMENT BRACKET

MANKATO, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State's Jordan Miller scored 19 points, all in the second half, to lead Southwest Minnesota State to a 79-71 victory over Minnesota State, Mankato (7-19, 6-16 NSIC) in its regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, SMSU (16-10, 15-7 NSIC) secured the No. 2 seed in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference basketball tournament and will host seventh-seeded Minnesota Duluth Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 7 p.m. at the R/A Facility.

Miller, who was held scoreless in the first half, connected on 6 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 5 from 3-point range in the second half. He added four free throws to lead the Mustangs in scoring. Nick Smith scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half while Matt Zager finished with 14 points for the Mustangs.

Jimmy Whitehead led MSU with 24 poinds while Stephen Kirschbaum added 22 points for the Mavericks. The Mustangs shot 52 percent from the field while, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range. SMSU was 17 of 22 from the free throw line (77 percent) while only allowing the Mavericks to go 7 of 9 from the charity stripe.

Southwest Minnesota State began the game on a 12-2 run forcing three turnovers in the first three and a half minutes of the game. After the Mavericks scored their first bucket in three minutes of play, the Mustangs went on an eight-point run capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers by Trent Carlson to give the Mustangs a 20-7 lead.

The Mustangs led by as much as 14 in the first half before Minnesota State went on a late 11-4 run to go into halftime trailing 40-32. SMSU shot 53 percent (17 of 32) in the first half, connecting on just 2 of 6 from 3-point range. The Mavericks were 13 of 30 from the field (43 percent) while connecting on 4 of 9 from behind the arc. 

SMSU pushed its lead to 12 at 48-36 to start off the second half on Miller's first 3-pointer of the night and a bucket by Zager. Minnesota State would not go away as it would come within five points twice in the final six minutes of the game.

After a 3-pointer from Kirschbaum and a bucket by Whitehead, the Mavericks came within five points at 64-59. Miller followed that by drilling a long 3-pointer on the next possession to put SMSU back up by eight. After a 3-pointer by Zach Romashko to make the score 69-64 with 4:20 to play, Miller would score six consecutive points, including four free throws to give SMSU a 73-64 lead.

Minnesota State scored on consecutive possessions to come within six at 75-69 but Lavione West stepped hit consecutive free throws in a one-and-one situation to put the Mustangs up by eight at 77-69.

West finished with seven points while William Giddings added six points and seven boards. Carlson finished the game 2 of 5 from 3-point range finishing with six points.