WINONA, Minn. –The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team would ride a hot shooting night and 20-point scoring nights from Dunwa Omot and Kenny Byers to an 77-69 victory over the Winona State Warriors on Saturday night inside the McCown Gymnasium in Winona.
 
Omot would deliver offensively for the Mustangs, scoring 23 points on 6 of 7 shooting and 5 of 5 shooting from deep in the victory. Byers would play the do-it-all role, scoring 20 points while adding eight rebounds, seven assists, and two steals. 
 
SMSU (13-10, 9-9 NSIC) shot 58.8 percent (30 of 51) from the field and 44.4 percent (8 of 18) from range, while WSU (14-9, 10-8) would finish shooting 46.6 percent (27 of 58) from the field and 35.7 percent (10 of 28) from range. SMSU was red-hot shooting in the second half, making 17 of 21 from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.
 
The Mustangs would take advantage inside, outrebounding the Warriors 30-24 while outscoring them 42-26 in the paint. 
 
SMSU had four players score double figures, with Omot and Byers joined by Cliff McCray (14) and Jake Phipps (12). McCray would shoot 6 of 10 from the floor while adding five rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and Phipps would collect four boards and block a pair of shots. 
 
The Mustangs would score the first 12 points of the game in 5:07 of action on 6 of 8 shooting, led by six points from Byers, while holding WSU to 0 of 6 shooting. WSU would score their first basket at the 13:47 mark, leading a 16-0 run of their own to take a 16-12 lead at the 8:55 mark. 
 
Kramer would put the run to an end, drilling a three, and after WSU responded with a layup, Omot would hit a three of his own to knot the game at 18-18 at the 7:55 mark. 
 
The teams would go back and forth offensively, with SMSU eventually leading 26-23 at the 3:43 mark, but WSU would answer with back-to-back triples to take a 29-26 lead. 
 
McCray would score the final four Mustang points, sandwiching a WSU layup to go into the half trailing 31-30. 
 
WSU would grow their lead to 39-36 at the 15:46 mark, but Omot and Phipps would each drill a triple to give SMSU a 42-39 lead with 14:46 to go. 
 
After a WSU three to tie the score, SMSU would score seven straight points, led by five from Byers, to grow their lead to 49-42 with 12:16 left. 
 
WSU would eventually get within 51-47, but four points from Byers and an Omot three would lead a 7-1 run to give SMSU a double-digit lead at 58-48 with 10 minutes to go. 
 
Seven of the next nine points would go in favor of the Warriors, but SMSU would build a lead to 64-58 with 6:03 to go. 
 
WSU would eventually cut the lead to 68-64 at the 3:45 mark, but Omot would keep his three-point barrage going with a triple at the 2:37 mark to grow the SMSU lead back to seven at 71-64. 
 
After a WSU miss and Mustang timeout, McCray would connect from long range to build the lead back to 10 at 74-64. WSU would score seven of the final 12 points, but it wouldn't be enough to overcome. 
 
WSU was led by Alec Rosner, whose 23 points would tie Omot for a game high. 
 
The Mustangs are back home Thursday, Feb. 17, hosting Wayne State at 7:30 p.m. for senior night in their final home game of the season.