Box Score

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team closed the regular season with a gut-wrenching 77-73 loss to Augustana in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Saturday night at the Elmen Center on the campus of AU.
 
AU's win, along with losses by Wayne State and Minnesota State, allows the Vikings to finish in a three-way tie for the NSIC South Division title with a record of 14-8.
 
SMSU closed the regular season with a record of 15-13 and finish conference play with a league mark of 10-12. The Mustangs will be the No. 5 seed from the NSIC South Division in the upcoming NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament and will play at No. 4 seed from the North Division MSU Moorhead on Wednesday night with game time set for 7:30 p.m.
 
MSUM defeated SMSU in Moorhead by a score of 98-79 on Feb. 9.
 
SMSU held a lead tonight for more than 33 minutes, but AU rallied making 15 of 16 from the free throw line in the second half. Ryan Bruggeman led the Mustangs with a game-high 28 points while dishing out seven assists and recording five steals.
 
Michael Lee and Braedan Hanson both added 10 points for the Mustangs, which closed the night shooting 50 percent (30 of 60) from the field, including 8 of 20 from 3-point range.
 
Augustana, which improves to 18-10 overall, held a 45-23 rebound advantage and held a 22-4 scoring advantage on second chance points. The Vikings were led by A.J. Plitzuweit, who scored a team-high 20 points with three 3-pointers.
 
SMSU scored the game's first nine points and trailed just one time in the opening half while building a 35-31 halftime advantage.
 
The Mustangs maintained the lead for much of the second half and used a pair of 3-pointers from Grant Kramer and Nick Dufault to build a 56-47 lead with 11:27 left in the game. SMSU would hold a 64-57 lead with five minutes left following a Hanson field goal and he would later connect on a 3-pointer to push the lead to 67-61 with 3:41 remaining.
 
AU then mounted the game-changing rally with six straight free throws to tie the game, before Plitzuweit snapped a 67-67 contest with a field goal with two and a half minutes left in the game and the Vikings never trailed again.
 
Kolin Bartlett and Hanson each grabbed five rebounds to lead the Mustangs.