Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State earned its second straight Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference South Division championship on Saturday night recording an 80-59 victory over Concordia-St. Paul at the R/A Facility.
 
SMSU's victory, coupled with Minnesota State's loss at the University of Sioux Falls, gives SMSU the outright division for the second straight season. The Mustangs, ranked No. 6 in the NCAA Central Region rankings, improves to 21-7 overall, 17-5 NSIC, in earning their seventh straight victory.
 
SMSU will be the No. 1 seed from the South Division in the upcoming NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday night and will host No. 8 seed from the North Division, the University of Mary. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
 
KJ Davis poured in a career-high 22 points on 6 of 9 shooting with three 3-pointers to pace the Mustangs. Teammate Michael Lee also scored a career-high with 20 points, connecting on a career-high six 3-pointers. Carter Kirk (11) and Nick Dufault (10) also finished in double-figure scoring for the Mustangs.
 
SMSU, which finished the game with a season-low two turnovers, shot 45 percent (28 of 62) from the field and tied a season-high with 14 3-pointers.
 
CSP (5-23, 4-18 NSIC) finished the game shooting 40 percent (21 of 53) and made just 4 of 17 from 3-point range. Avan Ward led the Golden Bears with 16 points with six rebounds.  
 
SMSU scored the game's first five points and never looked back in earning the victory. Holding a 14-10 lead with 13 minutes and 16 second left in the half, Kolin Bartlett scored on a layup and was followed by a 3-pointer by Dufault to push the lead to 19-10.
 
CSP would fight back and cut the deficit to 25-22 with seven minutes left before SMSU pushed the lead to 38-28 following a 3-pointer by Michael Lee. CSP's Ted Brown scored on the next possession, but SMSU closed the final 2:40 of the half on 10-0 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Turner Moen and Lee, to take a 48-30 lead into halftime.
 
Lee poured in 14 first half points, while Davis finished with 13 in the half. SMSU closed the half shooting 54 percent and limited CSP to just 35 percent shooting.
 
Lee started the second half with a 3-pointer as SMSU maintained a 20-point plus lead for the first 10 minutes of the second half. CSP cut the lead to 64-47 at the 8:39 mark, but Davis would drill another 3-pointer to give SMSU a 21-point advantage at 69-48.
 
Tonight's game was the final regular season home game for seniors KJ Davis, Carter Kirk and Turner Moen.