MARSHALL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul's Marcus Skeete hit a contested jumper with two seconds left in the game to give the Golden Bears a dramatic 61-60 victory over Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday night inside the R/A Facility.
Skeete finished the night scoring a game-high 18 points on 8 of 14 shooting with four assists. The game-winning shot capped a CSP comeback after trailing 54-46 with just under six minutes left in the game.
CSP improves to 3-21 overall, including 2-15 in the NSIC, while SMSU drops to 12-9 overall, 8-8 NSIC.
It was another tight game for the Mustangs, which drop to 4-6 in games decided by four or less points.
Dunwa Omot led four Mustang players in double figures with 14 points on 6 of 11 shooting.
Kenny Byers (12),
Grant Kramer (11) and
Jake Phipps (10) also finished in double-digits in scoring with Kramer pulling down a game-high nine rebounds.
SMSU finished the game shooting 53 percent (26 of 49) from the field but made just 4 of 17 from 3-point range. CSP made nine 3-pointers in the contest and closed the game shooting 51 percent (24 of 47) from the field.
SMSU jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first three and a half minutes following a 3-pointer by Kramer.
CSP quickly answered with nine straight points to take the lead and would maintain the advantage for much of the remainder of the half in building a 31-25 halftime lead.
SMSU committed 10 turnovers in the first half, while shooting 48 percent. CSP closed the half making four 3-pointers and shot 50 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
CSP would start the second half with a 3-pointer to take a nine-point lead, but SMSU answered with nine straight points to tie the game at 34 following a jumper by Byers.
SMSU would regain the lead at 41-37 with 13:50 on the clock, but CSP answered with five straight to regain the lead.
Kramer would snap a 42-all game with 12 minutes remaining to begin a 10-3 Mustang run to make the score 52-45 with eight minutes left in the game.
SMSU would maintain the six-point cushion at 54-48 following a layup by Omot at the 5:56 mark, but a 3-pointer by Jack Stensgard and a jumper by Skeete cut the deficit to 54-53 with 4:35 remaining.
Omot connected on a jumper to make the score 56-53 with 3:33 left, but CSP wouldn't go away and regained the lead at 57-56 on four straight points by Skeete.
Byers would put SMSU back in front on the ensuing possession with a layup and following a block by Phipps, the Mustangs would go up 60-57 on a field goal by Byers with 1:20 left in the game.
That was the last points by the Mustangs, as Jacob Everson scored on a layup with 52 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 60-59. SMSU had a chance to extend the lead on its next possession, but Omot missed a jumper as the shot clock neared zero, give CSP the final possession to win the game.
Southwest Minnesota State returns to the road next weekend with games at Upper Iowa and Winona State.
