> Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – MJ Delmore scored a career-high 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting, including four 3-pointers to lead Southwest Minnesota State to 78-58 victory over Northern Michigan in men's basketball on Saturday night at the R/A Facility.
 
SMSU (4-2), which was held to a season-low 59 points and just five 3-pointers in last night's loss to Michigan Tech, finished tonight's game making 12 of 20 3-pointers and held a 42-35 rebound advantage. SMSU also committed a season-low five turnovers.
 
Joey Bartlett (12), Travis Meinders (12) and Cole Martin (11) all scored in double figures for the Mustangs, which finished the contest shooting 42 percent (29 of 69) from the field.
 
NMU (2-4) was limited to 39 percent (24 of 61) shooting from the field, including 4 of 14 from 3-point range. Jordan Perez led the Wildcats with 19 points, connecting on 7 of 17 shooting.
 
The teams played a tight opening 10 minutes with SMSU holding a 12-10 lead, but over the next three minutes SMSU used an 11-4 run, capped by a layup by Mitch Weg to build a 23-14 advantage.
 
NMU's Jordan Perez connected on a 3-pointer to make the score 23-17, but Delmore answered with a 3-pointer to start a mini 8-2 run by the Mustangs to extend the margin to 31-19 with 3:59 left in the half.
 
Carter Kirk made a pair of free throws to give SMSU its largest lead of the half at 35-21 with 2:23 remaining, before settling for a 39-28 halftime lead.
 
Both squads struggled shooting in the opening half with SMSU shooting 39 percent, while NMU was held to just 37 percent.
 
NMU made the first field goal of the second half, but SMSU answered back with 13-1 to run to build a 52-31 lead with 15:41 left in the game and the lead never dipped below 20 points for the remainder of the game.
 
Southwest Minnesota State continues its homestand on Tuesday night taking on the University of Sioux Falls to open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play with tipoff set for 6 p.m.