BOX SCORE

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State had five players score in double figures and limited Concordia-St. Paul to 36 percent shooting in earning a 68-52 victory on Saturday night in NSIC men's basketball at the Gangelhoff Center.

Nick Smith led SMSU (15-9, 12-6 NSIC) with 14 points and 10 rebounds for his team-leading fourth double-double of the season, while Mitch Weg added 10 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Matt Zager (13), Joey Bartlett (11) and Vinard Birch (10) also all scored in double figures for SMSU, which earned its sixth straight victory over CU since the 2010-11 season.

SMSU, which never trailed in the game, limited CU (7-15, 4-14 NSIC) to just 17 points and 21 percent shooting in the first half in building a 31-17 halftime lead.

SMSU finished the game shooting 45 percent (29 of 64) from the field, held a 41-34 rebound advantage and committed a season-low five turnovers.

Mike Yanke led Concordia-St. Paul with 14 points. CU's leading scorer, Terez VanPelt was limited to just two points on 0 of 7 shooting .

Both teams struggled scoring in the first half with SMSU jumping out to a 12-2 lead in the first seven minutes. CU would cut the deficit to 14-8 with nine minutes and 18 second remaining before SMSU answered with seven straight points with a pair of field goals by Smith, a layup from Zager and a free throw from Birch to extend the lead to 21-8 at the 6:53 mark.

SMSU would later push the lead to 15 points before settling for a 31-17 halftime lead.

The Mustangs would continue to hold a 15-point lead in the first two minutes of the second half at 38-23 following a Weg jumper, before the Golden Bears would slowly cut into the lead and answered with a 16-8 run to make the score 44-37 with 14:23 remaining.

SMSU would maintain the lead at 58-49 with 5:58 left before holding CU scoreless for the next three minutes with Shaun Condon drilling a 3-pointer and Weg scoring a layup, to give SMSU a 63-49 advantage with less than three minutes remaining to seal the victory.

Southwest Minnesota State continues play on the road next weekend with two games in North Dakota. SMSU takes on the University of Mary on Friday, Feb. 14, and Minot State on Saturday, Feb. 15.