> Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. - Northern State shot 58 percent from the field—including 62 percent in the second half—to earn a 98-90 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Friday night in men's basketball.
 
The victory for NSU was its first in Marshall since 2009 and hands SMSU its fourth straight loss since beating Wayne State on Jan. 2. NSU forced SMSU into 15 turnovers, leading to 20 points off of turnovers.
 
NSU's Seth Bachand tied a career-high with 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting, while also recording seven rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots. Tydan Storrusten scored a career-high 23 points on 8 of 10 shooting, while connecting on four 3-pointers.
 
NSU (14-3, 8-3 NSIC), which led 77-63 with 5:57 remaining in the game, saw its lead cut to 88-84 with 1:21 on the clock, but the Wolves were able to hold off the Mustang charge and earn the victory.
 
Cole Martin paced SMSU (9-8, 5-6 NSIC) with a career-high 26 points on 9 of 15 shooting, while making 5 of 10 from 3-point range. Joey Bartlett added 24 points and six rebounds with teammate Mitch Weg chipping in 15 points with a team-high seven rebounds.  
 
The Mustangs closed the night shooting 51 percent (31 of 61) from the field, including 10 of 26 from 3-point range. SMSU held a slight 33-31 rebound advantage in the game.
 
The teams played a tight opening 13 minutes of the game with Northern State holding a 25-24 lead, before the Wolves used a 13-4 run to a 38-28 lead with 2:13 remaining in the half. NSU's Skye Warwick would later hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Wolves their largest lead of the half at 44-33 with 43 seconds remaining, before taking a 44-35 lead to the break.
 
Storrusten led the Wolves with 15 first half points with three 3-pointers.  NSU took advantage of 10 SMSU first half turnovers to hold a 13-5 scoring advantage on points off of turnovers.
 
NSU shot 55 percent in the opening half with six 3-pointers, while SMSU shot 56 percent, connecting on four 3-pointers.
 
Bartlett led the Mustangs with 14 first half points on 6 of 9 shooting.
 
NSU started the second half strong and built its largest lead of the game at 62-46 at the 13:22 mark. SMSU would cut the deficit to 10 points on three occasions, before finally trimming the NSU lead to 72-63 with 7:31 left on a three-point play by Weg.
 
The Wolves answered and extended the lead to 77-63, but the Mustangs wouldn't go away and made a game of it in the final minutes.
 
Trailing 86-76 with 2:45 left, Martin drilled a 3-pointer, while Bartlett later made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 86-80 with 2:31 remaining. Following two free throws by Storrusten to give NSU an eight-point lead, Bartlett hit two free throws and following an NSU turnover, Weg scored on a layup to make the score 88-84 with 1:21 on the clock.
 
NSU came right back with a three-point play to push the lead to 91-84 and the lead never dipped below five the remainder of the game.
 
Southwest Minnesota State will conclude the home weekend tomorrow night taking on No. 12 MSU Moorhead with tip-off slated for 7 p.m.