Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State shot 54 percent from the field and tied a season-low with seven turnovers in earning a 79-54 victory over Minnesota Duluth in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday night at the R/A Facility.
 
SMSU, the No. 1 seed from the South Division, will now face the University of Sioux Falls in the quarterfinals on Sunday night at 5:30 at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. USF, the No. 5 seed from the South, defeated No. 4 seed North, Minot State, 80-77 on Wednesday night.
 
SMSU, which is ranked No. 2 in this week's NCAA Central Region rankings and No. 21 in the latest D2SIDA Top 25, improves to 23-5 overall. UMD ends its season at 4-25.
 
Turner Moen and Carter Kirk led SMSU with 15 points each, while Taylor Schafer poured in 14 points. Moen made 4 of 5 field goal and connected on three 3-pointers to score a season-high points. Moen also recorded a team-high seven rebounds and four steals.
 
The teams played a tight opening eight minutes with UMD taking its first lead of the game at 14-12 on a 3-pointer by Jake Wilson.
 
The lead would not last long as 3-pointers by Moen and Michael Lee helped SMSU build a 22-16 lead with 9:17 remaining in the half. UMD would late trim the deficit to 25-21 at the 6:29 mark, but the SMSU defense tightened up and did not allow a UMD field goal the remainder of the half. SMSU closed out the final 1:13 on a 6-0 run to build a 35-22 halftime lead.
 
SMSU shot 50 percent in the opening half and limited UMD to just 32 percent shooting, despite making five 3-pointers in the first half.
 
The Mustangs put the game away early in the second half, using a 12-2 run in the first three minutes, to build a 47-24 advantage. The lead never dipped below 20 the remainder of the game as SMSU defeated UMD for the 14^th time in the last 16 meetings.
 
Luke Harris scored a team-high 13 points for the Bulldogs.
 
Southwest Minnesota State defeated Sioux Falls twice this season, winning 74-72 in Marshall and 87-76 in Sioux Falls.
 
Tonight also marked the final home game for SMSU seniors Joey Bartlett, Drew Osmundson and Mitch Weg.