MANKATO, Minn. – Minnesota State scored 31 straight points to erase a three-point deficit in the second quarter to earn its fourth straight win with a 45-24 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in NSIC college football on Saturday at Blakeslee Stadium.
 
MSU, ranked No. 4 in this week's NCAA Super Regional 4 rankings and No. 24 in the latest AFCA Top 25, improves to 8-2 overall, 4-1 NSIC South.
 
SMSU lost for the fifth straight time and drop to 4-6 overall, 1-4 NSIC South.
 
A highlight for the Mustangs came in the second half as senior linebacker Onte Burns became SMSU's and the NSIC's all-time leader in solo tackles. He finished the game with nine tackles, six solo, and now has 205 solo stops in his career breaking the SMSU record of 199 held by Nate Rudolph. Burns also broke the NSIC mark held by Kirby Hora (202) from Augustana.
 
SMSU freshman quarterback Marcus Martin made his third career start and closed the game completing 26 of 39 passes for 371 yards with three touchdowns. He is the first SMSU player to reach 300 yards passing in a game since Boyer Bouman in 2019.
 
Peter Osman caught a career-high eight passes for 134 yards for the Mustangs, while teammate Eric Lira recorded a career-high eight catches for a career-high 87 yards. Osman is the first Mustang to reach 100 yards receiving in a game since 2019.

Jesse Sherwood led the SMSU rushing game with 77 yards on 17 carries.
 
SMSU finished the game with 426 yards of offense (third highest of the season) with 57 yards rushing and 20 first downs.
 
MSU closed with 416 total yards with 145 on the ground and 271 through the air. Hayden Ekern completed 12 of 20 for 262 yards and four touchdowns with one interception. Nyles Williams caught four passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns.
 
The game started in complete disaster for SMSU as on the opening kickoff the Mustangs called for a fair catch but failed to recover the ball and the Mavericks jumped on the loose ball for the game's first touchdown just 10 seconds into the game.
 
SMSU's first drive ended at the MSU 15-yard line and just moments later the Mavericks connected on an 85-yard touchdown pass from Ekern to Williams to make the score 14-0 less than four minutes into the game.
 
SMSU would settle down and put up its first points of the game on the ensuing drive with Carter Dicker booting a 23-yard field goal midway through the first quarter to make the score 14-3.
 
The Mustang defense came through on the next Maverick drive with Marquise Ogletree recorded his second interception of the season to set up SMSU near midfield. Seven plays later, Martin found Dustin Pampel open for an 11-yard touchdown pass to cut the MSU lead to 14-10 late in the first quarter.
 
The SMSU defense would stop MSU on downs at the Mustang 36-yard line to set up the next SMSU scoring drive. Martin led the squad down the field and capped an 11-play, 67-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Pampel and put the Mustangs in front at 17-14 with 8:49 left in the second quarter.
 
MSU answered with a huge third-down play on its next drive to regain the lead. Facing third-and-10 at the MSU 49-yard line, the Mavericks beat a Mustang blitz with Williams catching a short pass and breaking free for a 51-yard touchdown to take a 21-17 advantage.
 
SMSU put together another impressive drive moving the ball to the MSU 15-yard line but eventually turned the ball over on downs.
 
MSU, with just over a minute left in the half, made some big plays in the final minute and scored a big touchdown on an 8-yard pass as time expired to build a 28-17 halftime lead.
 
The Mavericks added to the lead on their first drive of the second half behind a 39-yard field goal by Damian Chowaniec at the 10:43 of the third quarter.
 
MSU then put the game away with an eight-play, 99-yard touchdown drive to open the fourth quarter to push the lead to 38-17 with 10:46 left in the game.
 
Trailing 45-17, SMSU would close with the game's final touchdown as Martin connected on a 22-yard touchdown pass to Albert Lemon with 4:16 remaining.
 
Joining Burns atop the defensive effort was Thomas Mergen, who closed with eight tackles, while Josiah Hedensten finished with seven tackles.
 
SMSU concludes the season next Saturday, Nov. 12, hosting Augustana for Senior Day starting at 1 p.m.