MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball team closed out its regular season non-conference schedule on Monday afternoon with an 81-48 victory over Northland College (Wis.) inside the R/A Facility.
 
The game was part of 'Elementary & Community Day' as more than 600 elementary students from Southview Elementary in Marshall and Lakeview Elementary in Cottonwood attended the game.
 
SMSU earned its third straight victory and improves to 8-4 overall, while Northland, a Division III school from the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, drops to 3-8 overall.
 
Dunwa Omot led the Mustangs with a game-high 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers, while Jake Phipps added 17 points and six rebounds. Anthony Costello and Mason Lund also reached double figure scoring for SMSU with Costello scoring12 points on 5 of 9 shooting, while Lund poured in 11 points with four field goals.
 
Jonathan Zinniel also grabbed six rebounds for the Mustangs, while Mason Lund and Noah Chamberlain each pulled down five rebounds. Cliff McCray dished out a game-high six assists with Chamberlain adding four assists.
 
SMSU, which had all 11 players who played in the game score, finished the afternoon shooting 55 percent (33 of 60) from the field with seven 3-pointers on 21 attempts. The Mustangs held a 41-28 rebound advantage and outscored the Lumberjacks, 48-16, in the paint.
 
Northland shot 32 percent (19 of 59) from the field, including 6 of 25 from 3-point range. Drew Lindberg led the Lumberjacks with 12 points on 5 of 14 shooting and a pair of 3-pointers.
 
SMSU has held its opponents to less than 39 percent shooting in four of its last five games.
 
Lindberg opened the game with a 3-pointer but a layup by Phipps two minutes into the game put the Mustangs on top for the first time and never trailed again.
 
Holding a 7-6 lead, a Costello 3-pointer sparked a 21-2 Mustang run over six and a half minutes as SMSU made 8 of 11 shots to build a 28-8 lead with 8:44 left in the half. Omot scored seven points during the run, while the Mustangs held the Lumberjacks to 1 of 9 shooting during the stretch.
 
SMSU maintained a 30-15 lead with six minutes remaining before a Phipps field goal started a 10-0 run highlighted by 3-pointers from Jake Layman and Omot to extend the Mustang margin to 40-15 at the 3:41 mark.
 
The Mustangs would take a 42-22 advantage into the halftime break while shooting 53 percent from the field.
 
Mason Lund started the scoring off for SMSU in the second half with a dunk, but Northland would use a 10-5 run over a four-minute span to cut the deficit to 49-31 with 15 minutes remaining.
 
SMSU however countered with a game-sealing 18-6 spurt with Omot scoring six points and Lund and Phipps adding five apiece to build a 67-36 advantage with eight minutes left in the game.
 
SMSU made 17 of 30 field goals in the second half.
 
SMSU will now be off for 12 days before returning to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Dec. 31 with a key match-up at the University of Sioux Falls starting at 3 p.m. SMSU defeated USF in the NSIC opener in Marshall, 73-65, on Nov. 22.