Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – The University of Sioux Falls held Southwest Minnesota State to two points over a 13-minute span to rally back and earn a 61-52 victory in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball on Saturday inside the R/A Facility.
 
USF, fighting for a spot in the upcoming NSIC Tournament, improves to 7-4 overall, 5-4 NSIC South. SMSU drops to 2-8 overall, 0-6 NSIC South, and has now lost seven straight games.
 
Nick Dufault led SMSU with 16 points on 5 of 11 shooting with three 3-pointers, while Jake Phipps scored eight points, grabbed four rebounds and registered two blocked shots. Cliff McCray grabbed a team-high six rebounds and had three steals.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 38 percent (19 of 50) from the field but were just 5 of 21 (24 percent) in the second half.
 
USF, which held a 44-26 rebound advantage with 15 on the offensive end, held a 14-3 scoring advantage on second chance points. The Cougars closed the afternoon shooting 38 percent (21 of 55) from the field with three 3-pointers. Chase Grinde paced the Cougars with 16 points, while Troy Hougton added 14 points.
 
SMSU held a 33-26 advantage with 1:35 left in the first half, but the USF defense was outstanding in the second half, limiting the Mustangs to two points in the first 12 minutes, to rally and build a 45-35 lead.
 
Cliff McCray would end the drought with a 3-pointer at the 7:53 mark and the Mustangs would later pull to within 47-45 with 6:05 left following three Dufault free throws.
 
McCray would later hit one of two free throws with 4:08 left to cut the deficit to 51-49, but the Cougars answered back with a big 10-1 run to seal its third straight win inside the R/A Facility.
 
SMSU jumped out to an early 8-2 three minutes into the game, but USF answered with a big run to take its largest lead of the half at 17-13 with 12 minutes left in the half.
 
SMSU would later hold a 20-19 advantage with just over six minutes remaining in the half before Nick Dufault hit a jumper and was followed by a layup by Jake Phipps to push the lead to 24-19.

At the three-minute mark, SMSU's Sam Schwartz created a steal and converted a layup to give the Mustangs' its largest lead of the half at 29-22. USF countered with four straight points, but a Grant Kramer layup and another fast-break layup by Schwartz extended the lead to seven points once again at 33-26 at the 1:35 mark.
 
USF scored the last four points of the half to cut the deficit to 33-30 at halftime.
 
SMSU limited USF to 34 percent shooting in the opening half and forced eight turnovers.
 
The Mustangs then went ice-cold shooting to start the second half, making just one of its first 13 shots and committing eight turnovers in the first 12 minutes.
 
The two teams will conclude the regular season on Sunday with tip-off set for 12 p.m.