Box Score

DENVER-The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team held off a last second shot attempt by Regis University (Colo.) to win 65-63 on Saturday in the Regis Fieldhouse.

SMSU (4-1) finished shooting 43.8 percent from the floor on 21 of 48 attempts, while Regis (2-4) shot 42.3 percent on 22 of 52 shots.

Taylor Schafer led all scorers and set a career high with 17 points on 5 of 11 from down town. Mitch Weg finished with his third double double of the season as he cashed in on 16 points and pulled down 13 boards.

The Rangers started the first half in control as they led 14-4 just five minutes into the game. The Mustangs came back with a 7-2 run to trail by three, but the Rangers pushed their lead back to eight with 6:46 left in half. SMSU again scored seven straight points to trail by one with 3:48 left. Regis tried to put distance between SMSU before halftime, but back-to-back 3-pointers by Schafer kept the Mustangs within one at the break.

Schafer led at the break with 14 points on 4 of 5 attempts from downtown and added a pair of points from the charity stripe. Weg controlled the box pulling down five boards.

Joey Bartlett scored the first points of the second half off a layup to give SMSU its first lead of the game at 35-34. Both teams traded points and the lead going down the stretch but a 3-pointer by Schafer gave the Mustangs their largest lead of the game with 3:31 left at 64-60. The Rangers came back with a three of their own to trail by one with 15 seconds left and had another 3-pointer attempt with one second remaining, but missed.

Southwest Minnesota State will open up Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Tuesday playing Sioux Falls in the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.