Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State closed out its home regular season schedule on Saturday night with a hard-fought 88-76 victory over Wayne State in NSIC men's basketball at the R/A Facility.
 
SMSU (13-12, 9-11 NSIC) used a balanced scoring attack with five players reaching double figure scoring. Ryan Bruggeman paced the Mustangs with 15 points, seven assists, five steals and four rebounds. Mitch Weg recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Shaun Condon (14), Joey Bartlett (11) and Taylor Schafer (11) all reached double figure scoring as well for SMSU.
 
SMSU closed the game shooting 48 percent (28 of 58) from the field, while drilling 11 of 24 3-point attempts. SMSU also finished with a 40-30 rebound advantage, including pulling down 14 offensive rebounds.
 
WSC (5-21, 3-17 NSIC), which dropped its fifth straight game, shot 45 percent (29 of 64) from the field. Matt Thomas led the Wildcats with 16 points, while Brian Goodwin added 15 points.
 
The win was SMSU's 17^th straight over WSC in Marshall, with WSC's last victory coming during the 1999-2000 season.
 
Tonight also marked the final regular season home game for SMSU's lone senior, Shaun Condon.
 
The teams played a tight opening 12 minutes, with four lead changes and four ties, as WSC held a 26-24 lead with eight minutes left in the first half.
 
Condon gave SMSU the lead back with a 3-pointer, which started a 19-5 run over the next five and a half minutes to give the Mustangs their largest lead of the half at 43-31 with three minutes and 41 seconds remaining.
 
WSC countered with its own run—9-2 to close the half—to trim SMSU's lead to 45-40 at the break.
 
SMSU shot 57 percent in the first half, but committed 11 turnovers. WSC was also hot from the field in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 53 percent, but also committed 11 turnovers.
 
WSC regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Thomas with 15:49 left in the second half to make the score 52-49. A free throw by Bartlett and then back-to-back dunks by Carter Kirk and Bartlett gave the Mustangs the lead at 54-52.
 
WSC tied the game one last time with 14:27 remaining at 54-54, but an 8-0 run capped by a Bruggeman 3-pointer gave SMSU a 62-54 advantage at the 10:36 mark. Following a WSC field goal, SMSU reeled off six straight points to push the lead to 68-56 and the lead never dipped below double-digits the remainder of the game.
 
Southwest Minnesota State closes out the regular season next weekend with a pair of road games. SMSU will face Concordia-St. Paul next Friday, Feb. 19, and Minnesota State on Saturday, Feb. 20.