MARYVILLE, Mo. – The No. 2 seed Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team continues play at the NCAA Central Region Tournament tonight facing No. 3 seed East Central University (Okla.) in the semifinals starting at 5 p.m. at Bearcat Arena.
SMSU, 27-5 overall, advanced to the semifinals following a 93-82 victory over Arkansas Tech on Saturday afternoon. ECU, 25-7 overall, earned a 115-106 overtime victory over No. 6 seed MSU Moorhead on Saturday afternoon.
ECU, playing in its first-ever NCAA tournament, won both the Great American Conference regular season and tournament championships. Senior guard and GAC most valuable player Braxton Reeves, leads the Tigers, averaging 22.6 points per game, while connecting on 125 3-pointers. Ishmael Donzo is averaging 11.8 ppg and has a team-high 7.4 rebounds per game.
Reeves scored 35 points on 11 of 19 shooting, including 8 of 14 from 3-point range in Saturday's win. Donzo added 20 points and nine rebounds, while KD Moore chipped in with 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Joey Bartlett led SMSU in the win over ATU, scoring 25 points with nine rebounds. He made 6 of 12 field goals with three 3-pointers and made 10 of 14 free throws.
Carter Kirk (15),
Michael Lee (14) and
Ryan Bruggeman (12) all finished in double figure scoring. Bruggeman also dished out nine assists and recorded two steals.
SMSU and ECSU meet for the second time ever tonight. SMSU earned a 76-70 victory on Nov. 14, 2014, in Bartlesville, Okla.
Sunday's other semifinal game features No. 1 seed Northwest Missouri State and No. 5 Augustana with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.
