ST. PAUL, Minn. – A career night by Jake Phipps would be enough to pace the Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team to an 83-70 victory over the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears on Friday night inside the Gangelhoff Center.
 
Phipps collected a career-high 25 points, 12 made field goals, and five assists while adding eight rebounds and two blocks to dominate the Golden Bears.
 
SMSU (7-4, 3-3 NSIC) outscored CSP (1-11, 0-6) 60-26 in the paint, while holding an advantage off the bench, outscoring CSP's bench 29-16 en route to victory.
 
The Mustangs shot a season-high 61 percent (36 of 59) from the field while shooting 23 percent (3 of 13) from range and outrebounding the Golden Bears 34-24.
 
CSP shot over 40 percent in each half, finishing the game at a 45.6 (26 of 57) clip from the field, and shot 50 percent (13 of 26) from deep.
 
SMSU had four players score double-figures, with Phipps being joined by Kenny Byers (18), Sam Schwartz (12) and Anthony Costello (11). All three would add five rebounds apiece, with Schwartz leading the defense with two steals. Cliff McCray would also join the defensive mix, collecting two steals of his own while pacing the offense with six assists in a team-high 32 minutes.
 
SMSU would feast inside to open the game, shooting 6 of 7 and scoring all 12 early points in the paint. CSP would counter with a pair of offensive rebounds to help pace the game, with SMSU holding a 12-10 lead at the 15-minute mark in the first half.
 
After missing a basket just before the media timeout, SMSU would exit the timeout with confidence, going on a 12-0 run, led by six points from Schwartz and capped off by a poster dunk from Byers to force a CSP timeout leading 24-10 with 12:10 to go in the first half.
 
CSP would begin to chip away, going on a 14-9 run up until the 6:38 mark to cut the lead to 33-24. SMSU would close the half outscoring CSP 12-8 on 6 of 9 shooting to take a 45-32 lead into the half.
 
The Mustangs would have four players score at least eight points in the first half, with Schwartz leading the way with 10. SMSU would outshoot CSP 63.6 percent to 43.3 percent, with the Mustangs dominating inside, outscoring CSP 36-14 in the paint.
 
SMSU would show no signs of slowing down early in the second half, going on an 11-7 run on 4 of 5 shooting, highlighted by seven points from Phipps to add to their lead, 56-39, with 16:34 to go in the game. The Golden Bears would erupt, scoring 11 straight points on 4 of 4 shooting in just over two minutes to cut the SMSU lead to 56-50 with 14:01 to go.
 
After each team would score a pair of points following the under-15 media timeout, SMSU would score eight straight points on 3 of 3 shooting to extend their lead to 66-52 with 9:34, as Phipps would score four of the eight to continue his dominant night inside.
 
CSP would make a layup to trail by 12, but six of the next seven points would go in the Mustangs favor to extend their lead to 72-55 with 7:16 to go.
 
The Golden Bears would continue clawing, going on a 7-2 run to trail 74-62 with 4:10 to go, but Phipps would continue his career night, scoring two straight layups after a pair of Byers free throws to lead 80-62. CSP would score eight of the next 11 points to close in at 83-70, but it wouldn't be enough to overcome the inside attack of Phipps and the Mustangs.  
 
CSP would be led by Reid Patterson, who scored a career-high 14 points, shooting 4 of 6 from behind the arc, and Jacob Everson, who would score 14 points on 4 of 4 shooting from deep.
 
The Mustangs close the 2021 calendar year Saturday afternoon, traveling to Mankato to meet Minnesota State (8-3, 3-3) for a 3:30 tip-off.