> Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota held Southwest Minnesota State scoreless for nearly five minutes midway through the second half and went on to earn an 81-64 exhibition game victory on Friday night at Williams Arena.
 
Joey Bartlett and Mitch Weg led a balanced scoring attack for SMSU with 12 points each, while Ryan Bruggeman and Taylor Schafer each scored 11 points.
 
Minnesota's Carlos Morris led all scorers with 23 points on 7 of 9 shooting, while Joey King added 17 points with five 3-pointers.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 37 percent (25 of 68) from the field, including just 27 percent (9 of 34) from 3-point range. Minnesota closed the game shooting 51 percent (24 of 47), including 36 percent (8 of 22) on 3-pointers.
 
Weg pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to help SMSU hold a 41-28 rebound edge in the game. Nate Mason, who scored 14 points, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for Minnesota.
 
The Gophers held a 54-47 lead with 13 minutes and 21 seconds left in the game following a Weg field goal, but SMSU went scoreless over the next five minutes to see the Minnesota lead grow to 65-47 and never looked back.
 
King started the game red-hot from the field, connecting on his first four 3-pointers to help the Gophers build a 20-10 lead with 12:30 left in the half.
 
SMSU answered in a big way scoring the next nine points over the next nearly three minutes to take its first lead of the game. Bruggeman started the rally with a field and was followed by a pair of 3-pointers from Shaun Condon.  Turner Moen closed the rally with a 3-pointer to give SMSU a 21-20 lead with 9:43 left in the half.
 
Minnesota came right back with its own rally, using a 15-6 run to regain the lead and build a 35-27 advantage with 4:21 on the clock.
 
A pair of free throws and a 3-pointer from Bruggeman cut the deficit to 35-31 with 2:58 remaining, but the Gophers closed the half on an 8-4 run to take a 43-35 halftime lead.
 
SMSU started the second half strong as Schafer drilled a 3-pointer with 16:07 remaining to cut the deficit to 47-43, but the Gophers quickly answered back with five points to make the score 52-43.
 
The Mustangs would cut the deficit to seven points twice more in the half, but it wasn't enough as the Gophers used strong defense in the second half to pull away.
 
Southwest Minnesota State opens the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Fort Hays State (Kan.). SMSU will also play Emporia State (Kan.) on Sunday, Nov. 15, also in Hays, Kan.