ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Kenny Byers, Dunwa Omot, and Anthony Costello would combine for 61 points to help power Southwest Minnesota State to a 93-86 victory over St. Cloud State in an NSIC men's basketball cross-division match-up on Saturday night inside of Halenbeck Hall.
 
Byers would finish the night with a double-double, with 23 points and 11 rebounds while dishing a team-high four assists in nearly 43 minutes of action. Dunwa Omot scored 20 points while nabbing all three SMSU steals in his first career start while tallying just over 41 minutes, and Costello added a career-high 18 points with five rebounds in 35 minutes off the bench. 
 
SMSU (11-8, 7-7 NSIC) closed the game shooting 54.4 percent (37 of 68) from the field, including 10 of 23 from 3-point range. SCSU finished the night shooting 43.8 percent (35 of 80) while making 5 of 31 from 3-point range.
 
Although SCSU would outscore SMSU 22-6 off turnovers, the Mustangs would see a huge advantage off the bench, outscoring the Huskies bench 24-3, and would outrebound SCSU 42-36. 
 
Grant Kramer added 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting from deep and nine rebounds, and Cliff McCray would do a little bit of everything, scoring six points, grabbing seven rebounds, and dishing four assists. 
 
The Huskies (9-11, 5-8 NSIC) were led by Anthony Roberts, who would score a game-high 28 points and grab a game-high 12 rebounds.
 
After a Huskie bucket to open the scoring, Omot would get the Mustang offense going with a three pointer before a Costello layup at the rim to take a 5-2 lead at the 16:37 mark. SCSU would make a layup before a Kramer three to give SMSU an 8-4 lead.
 
SCSU would follow the three with two makes from deep of their own, and Phipps would answer with a layup to knot the game at 10-10 at the 13:58 mark. 
 
The Huskies would grow their lead to 21-17, but SMSU would score 13 of the next 15 points to take a 30-23 lead and force an SCSU timeout, led by four from Costello and three from Omot. 
 
The Huskies would make a run, outscoring SMSU 8-2 to narrow the SMSU gap to one at 32-31 with 3:42 to go in the half, but the Mustangs would close it out by scoring 11 of the final 18 points of the frame to lead 43-38 into the locker room.  
 
The Mustangs would also see early results from their bench, outscoring the Huskie bench 15-0, and ate in the paint, outscoring SCSU 20-16 inside. 
 
Costello would lead SMSU with 10 first half points, while Omot would score nine and Byers would score seven with a team-high four rebounds. 
 
After the Huskies opened the second half scoring with a tip in, Omot would continue his solid day, getting to the basket and converting an and-one to lead 46-40 with 17:50 to go in the game. Costello and Byers would sandwich an SCSU dunk to get their lead to 50-42 at the 16:30 mark. 
 
SCSU would make a charge, scoring eight of the next 10 points trail 52-50. The teams would trade blows for the next 13 minutes of action before SCSU would take the lead with 40 seconds to go. 
 
Costello would come up clutch, hitting a tough jumper to tie the game 69-69 with 21 seconds left. SCSU would miss a contested buzzer beater to send the game to overtime. 
 
After each team scored a pair of buckets to get the score to 71-71, Byers would step to the line and make a pair of free-throws to take a 73-71 lead with 2:48 to go. 
 
Each team would miss a two pointer, but, with 1:46 to go, Roberts would grab an offensive rebound and convert an and-one to take a 74-73 lead. 
 
Byers would come right down, hitting a fadeaway layup to take a 75-74 lead. SCSU would miss at the other end and foul Byers, who stepped to the line and hit a pair of free-throws again with just over a minute to go to take a three-point lead, 77-74. 
 
Roberts would take matters into his own hands, converting another and-one while getting Phipps to foul out in the process to tie the game with 44 seconds to go. 
 
After a Mustang miss with 18 seconds to go, SCSU would put the game in the hands of Roberts, who would bulldoze his way his way to the basket but missed the layup to take the lead. 
 
Cliff McCray would get fouled on the rebound with 3.8 seconds to go, but would miss the front end of a one-and-one before SCSU missed a buzzer beater from half court to send the game to double overtime. 
 
After each team would make a layup, Byers would take an 81-79 lead with an elbow jumper. After a big rebound from Costello, Omot would knock down a three to grow the lead to five. 
 
Costello would again come up big, meeting SCSU at the rim for a huge block before Omot would hit another three to take an 87-79 lead and force a Huskie timeout with just over two minutes to go. 
 
SCSU would score out of the timeout, but Costello would answer with a layup to lead 89-81. The Huskies wouldn't go down without a fight, converting an and-one to trail 89-84 with 1:17 to go. 
 
After forcing a turnover, SCSU would get a chance to cut the lead to double digits, but would miss a three, leading to a Costello slam at the other end to go up 91-84. 
 
McCray would make a pair of layups with 44 seconds left before an SCSU dunk as time expired to cap the scoring and give SMSU their first overtime victory since Dec. 14, 2019 against Minnesota Duluth. 
 
The Mustangs return home next weekend, hosting Minnesota State on Friday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. before welcoming Concordia-St. Paul for Tropical Night on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m.