Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State held off a late Concordia-St. Paul charge, to earn an 89-76 victory, in NSIC men's basketball and capture the outright NSIC South Division championship on Saturday at the Gangelhoff Center.
 
SMSU's win, along with Upper Iowa's overtime loss at Augustana, gives the Mustangs its first division championship since division were formed prior to the 2012-13 season.
 
SMSU, ranked No. 3 in this week's NCAA region rankings, improves to 22-5 overall, 17-5 NSIC. The victory was also SMSU's 12^th "true" road victory of the season, setting a new school record.
 
SMSU will host Minnesota Duluth in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday night starting at 7 p.m. The game is a "White Out", with all fans encouraged to wear white in support of the Mustangs.
 
Taylor Schafer paced the Mustangs with a career-high 25 points, connecting on 8 of 15 field goals, including 5 of 10 from 3-point range. Carter Kirk added 13 points, while Michael Lee (12), Ryan Bruggeman (12) and Joey Bartlett (10) also finished in double figure scoring.
 
SMSU shot 59 percent (30 of 51) from the field, while making 11 of 23 from 3-point land. The Mustangs led by 28 points early in the second half, but CSP would not go away and trimmed the deficit to seven points with 46 seconds remaining, but SMSU made clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
 
CSP's Bryndan Matthews scored a team-high 18 points and dished out seven assists.
 
SMSU committed just three turnovers in the first half, but finished with 15 for the game, which led to 24 points for CSP.
 
After CSP held a 12-7 lead in the opening five and a half minutes, 3-pointers by Schafer, Bartlett and Lee gave SMSU a 16-12 at the 12:54 mark.
 
SMSU was red-hot from the field in the game's first 10 minutes, connecting on four 3-pointers, to build a 25-15 lead midway through the half following a pair of Schafer free throws following a technical foul on the CSP bench.
 
The blistering shooting would continue as SMSU finished the first 20 minutes shooting 61 percent from the field with eight 3-pointers to build a 51-28 halftime lead. Schafer drilled four 3-pointers and paced the Mustangs with 18 points in the opening half.
 
SMSU's 51 first half point total was its highest in a first half this season.
 
The Mustangs would extend the lead to 57-29 with 18 minutes left in the game before the Golden Bears rallied with 11 straight points to cut the margin to 57-40 at the 14:49 mark. SMSU answered with five straight free throw to halt the streak.  
 
SMSU closed the game making 18 of 23 free throws.