BOX SCORE

WINONA, Minn. – Winona State rallied with four points in the final 13 seconds of regulation and then scored the final seven points of overtime to earn a stunning 91-83 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night.

WSU (10-3, 4-2 NSIC) has now won 17 straight regular season games over SMSU since the 2002-03 season. 

Clayton Vette led the Warriors with 29 points and 11 rebounds, while Taylor Cameron added 24 points. 

SMSU (6-7, 3-3 NSIC) had five players in double figures with Lavione West leading the way with 15 points on 7 of 11 shooting.  Nick Smith poured in 14 points, with Matt Zager adding 13 points, Jordan Miller and Williams Giddings each with 12 points and Tramel Barnes chipping in with 11.

SMSU led 75-71 with 20 seconds left in regulation following a pair of Nick Smith free throws, but WSU's Taylor Cameron cut the deficit to 75-73 with 13 seconds remaining.  Smith was fouled on ensuing in-bounds pass, but missed the front end of a one-and-one.  WSU grabbed the rebound and Cameron was fouled with six seconds left and made both free throws to tie the game.

SMSU attempted to win the game, but a turnover on the in-bounds pass gave WSU the ball under the basket but a jumper by Vette missed to send the game to overtime.

WSU built an 81-78 lead with three minutes left in overtime before Zager drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game with 2:10 remaining.  Cameron and Miller exchanged baskets to keep the game tied with 1:22 remaining, before Xavier Humphrey gave the Warriors the lead for good with a layup with 1:10 left in overtime. 

SMSU turned the ball over on its next possession, before Vette connected on his only 3-pointer of the game to make the score 88-83 with 27 seconds left to seal the victory.   WSU made all five field goal attempts in the overtime.

SMSU finished the game shooting 56 percent (33 of 59) from the field, but was outrebounded 43-28, which led to 15 second-chance points for WSU.  SMSU failed to score a second chance point in the game.

The Mustangs have now shot 50 percent or better in nine straight halves (not including overtime).

WSU scored the game's first five points, but SMSU slowly cut into the lead and took its first lead of the game with 14 minutes and four second left on a dunk by Smith to give SMSU a 14-13 advantage.

It was all SMSU for the remainder of the half as the Mustangs pushed the lead to 30-15 at the 9:27 mark following a jumper from Smith.  WSU trimmed the deficit to six on a pair of occasions, before SMSU extended the lead back to 12 at 48-36 with 1:42 remaining following a 3-pointer by Jordan Buddenhagen and a layup from Giddings. 

The first half ended with SMSU holding a 49-39 lead, with the Mustangs shooting 69 percent from the field.

Southwest Minnesota State closes out its two-game road trip tomorrow night taking on Upper Iowa University (9-3, 5-1 NSIC) in Fayette starting at 8 p.m.  UIU defeated Sioux Falls 71-62 on Friday night.