MARSHALL, Minn. – Anthony Costello scored 20 points, while teammate Jake Phipps scored 14 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to pace Southwest Minnesota State to a big 67-58 victory over Northern State in NSIC men's college basketball on Saturday night.
 
SMSU, which suffered a two-point loss to MSU Moorhead on Friday night, improves to 11-6 overall, 7-5 NSIC, while NSU, which opened the weekend atop the NSIC North Division standings, dropped its second straight game and is now 13-5 overall, 9-3 NSIC.
 
SMSU, which snapped a six-game losing streak to NSU and earned its first home win over the Wolves since Nov. 19, 2015, used a key 14-0 run in the second half to secure the victory.
 
SMSU limited NSU to 34 percent (20 of 59) shooting, including 13 of 40 from 3-point range and dominated the glass, holding a 45-24 rebound advantage. It's the first time SMSU has been plus-20 in rebound margin since Nov. 20, 2018.
 
NSU was led by Jacksen Moni, who scored 19 points with four 3-pointers, while grabbing six rebounds.
 
SMSU closed the game shooting 48 percent (28 of 58) despite making just 3 of 16 3-pointers. Dunwa Omot also scored in double figures for the Mustangs with 12 points and six rebounds. Cliff McCray chipped in with six points and eight rebounds, while Jakob Braaten added six points.
 
SMSU, which held a five-point halftime advantage, led by seven points early in the second half, but NSU rallied and took a 36-34 lead with just over 16 minutes left in the game.
 
Costello started the game-changing run with a layup and was followed by a Phipps field goal to put the Mustangs back in the lead with 14 minutes remaining. The run, which lasted four-plus minutes, was capped by an alley-oop dunk by Majok Majouk to extend the SMSU lead to 48-36 with 10:37 on the clock.
 
NSU would stop the run with a free throw, but SMSU answered once again with a Costello 3-pointer to push the lead to its largest of the game at 51-37.
 
The Wolves would put together another run and cut the deficit to six points on three occasions, including 59-53 at the 3:34 mark, but a Phipps layup at the two-minute mark stopped the momentum to help hold off the NSU comeback attempt.
 
NSU held an early 14-10 advantage seven minutes into the game before Costello scored 15 of the next 17 SMSU points to help the Mustangs build a 27-16 lead with 7:51 remaining.
 
Majouk would connect on a 3-pointer at the 4:19 mark to give SMSU its third 11-point lead of the half at 32-21, but the Mustangs failed to score the remainder of the half as NSU rallied to cut the deficit to 32-27 at halftime.
 
SMSU shot 50 percent in the opening half with Costello connecting 7 of 9 shots for 15 points.
 
SMSU continues its home stand next Friday, Jan. 20, facing St. Cloud State with game time starting at 5:30 p.m.