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ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team fended off a late surge by Concordia-St. Paul to take the Friday night Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest 71-69.

SMSU (16-12, 13-8 NSIC), ranked No. 9 in this week's NCAA region rankings, held a 13-point lead in the second half but Concordia-St. Paul (9-16, 7-14 NSIC) would cut the deficit to one point with 3:14 remaining. CU would score just three points from that point on, with it coming on a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining.

SMSU's Jordan Miller was fouled on the impending possession and would miss the front-end of a one-and-one. CU would come down with the rebound and immediately called a timeout with .6 seconds remaining. Jordan Miller would redeem himself by knocking the CU inbounds away and time expired.

SMSU started off slow, falling behind 6-0, but would slowly work its way back into the game. The Mustangs would eventually take their first lead at the 8:11 mark of the first half, as Lavione West nailed a jumper in the paint to push the advantage to 21-20.

SMSU would take a 38-30 score into the break.

It took only eight seconds for the Mustangs to get on the board in the second half, as Jordan Miller stroked a 3-pointer to put SMSU up 11. SMSU would maintain a double-digit lead until the 12:58 mark when CU's Nick Mabbutt got open for a layup. CU would use a 9-2 run from the 10:58 mark to the 8:20 mark to cut the Mustang lead to just two and would eventually tie the ball game at 62 with 7:02 remaining.

The dagger was struck when Matt Zager hit a runner in the paint with 24 seconds remaining to put SMSU up five, 71-66. CU would miss two shots on its impending possession before Terez VanPelt connected on a 3-pointer that pulled CU within two points with just two seconds remaining. CU could not convert on a long inbounds pass to get a chance at game-tying jumper after Jordan Miller missed the front-end of a one-and-one.

Nick Smith connected on 9 of 14 shots to lead SMSU with 20 points and seven rebounds, while Matt Zager added 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting, including three 3-pointers. Jordan Miller and Lavione West each finished with 13 points round-out SMSU's double-digit scorers. SMSU finished the game shooting 45.6 percent (28-61) from the field and had just seven turnovers.

The win was SMSU's fifth straight over Concordia-St. Paul.

SMSU will conclude the NSIC regular season tomorrow night at No. 9 Minnesota State.