> Box Score

WAYNE, Neb. — Wayne State made 30 of 36 free throws and pulled away in the final three minutes to defeat Southwest Minnesota State, 86-80 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball on Saturday night.
 
SMSU (12-14, 8-12 NSIC) finished shooting 50 percent from the floor (33 for 65) and 45 percent from three (5 for 11). Turner Moen lead the Mustangs with a career-high 25 points, while Cole Martin contributed 20 points and tallied three blocks. Mitch Weg scored 19, while also pulling down a team-high eight rebounds.
 
WSC (7-19, 4-16 NSIC) shot 47 percent from the floor (25 for 51) while finishing with a 44 percent mark from three (8 for18). The Wildcats held a 36-30 advantage in rebounds lead by Kendall Jacks with nine. Jordan Cornelius paced the Wildcats with 19 points, while Jacks recorded 16 points.

SMSU started the game strong jumping out to a 14-2 lead in the first five and a half minutes. The lead later moved to 18-5 following a layup by MJ Delmore, before WSC cut the deficit 22-15 with 8:35 left in the half.
 
Moen would score on a layup to give SMSU a 26-15 advantage with 7:48 remaining, before WSC answered with a key run to end the half. The Mustangs scored just four points for the remainder of the half as the Wildcats closed the opening 20 minutes on a 17-4 run to take a 32-30 halftime lead.
 
WSC would maintain the lead for the first seven minutes of the second half before SMSU rallied and regained the lead following a Weg three-point play to give the Mustangs a 47-46 lead with 12:55 on the clock.
 
The teams would exchange the lead several times for the next eight minutes until WSC's Jacks scored on a layup with 3:54 remaining to give the Wildcats a 64-62 lead.
 
Following a free throw by Moen to cut the lead to 64-63, Jacks answered again for WSC with a 3-pointer and the Wildcats never had their lead dip below four points the remainder of the game in snapping an eight-game losing streak to SMSU.
 
Southwest Minnesota State concludes the regular season next weekend hosting Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State. Friday night's game versus CU begins at 8 p.m., while Saturday's "Senior Night" game starts at 7 p.m.