WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. – Southwest Minnesota State was limited to a season-low 51 points, including shooting 28 percent in the second half, while Maryville (Mo.) shot 59 percent in the second half to rally and earn a 58-51 victory in non-conference men's basketball on Tuesday afternoon inside the Justagame Fieldhouse as part of the Saint Leo University Classic.
 
SMSU, which has played four games in six days, drops its second straight game and is now 7-6 overall. Maryville snapped a four-game losing streak and improves to 4-5 overall.
 
Dunwa Omot led the Mustangs with a season-high 17 points with three 3-pointers and five rebounds. Jake Phipps, who played much of the game in four trouble, scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds. Cliff Cofield was the other SMSU player to score in double figures with 10 points, with all coming in the second half.
 
Mason Lund grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for the Mustangs, which held a 35-34 rebound edge.
 
The Saints were paced by Luke Williams' 15 points. Maryville closed the game shooting 44 percent (22 of 50) from the field, including 6 of 22 from 3-point range. Maryville made 13 of 22 field goals in the second half with four 3-pointers.
 
The Mustangs closed the game making just 18 of 53 field goals, for a season-low 34 percent, including 6 of 22 from 3-point land. It's the second straight game SMSU has shot a season-low field goal percentage.
 
The Mustang started the game strong making three 3-pointers in the opening six minutes in helping build a 15-6 with 12:40 left in the half.
 
Omot would score on a layup with 11:50 remaining in the half to give SMSU a 17-9 lead, but the Mustangs would go scoreless for more than seven minutes to help Maryville pull to within 17-16 at the 5:31 mark.
 
Omot would end SMSU's scoreless streak with a 3-pointer to help spark a 10-0 Mustang run and push the Mustang lead to its largest of the half at 27-16 with 1:41 remaining. Aeron Stevens and Phipps would score on layups sandwiched around a Mason Lund 3-pointer during the run. The Saints would close the half with four straight points to cut the deficit to 27-20 at the break.
 
SMSU shot 39 percent from the field in the opening half with five 3-pointers and held a 20-17 rebound margin.
 
SMSU's shooting struggles would continue into the second half with Omot making the team's lone field goal in the first seven and a half minutes of the second half as Maryville rallied to build a 37-31 lead at the 12:47 mark.
 
Cofield helped pull the Mustangs closer with four straight points before Stevens tied the game with a jumper with 10:37 remaining. The game was tied at 39 with nine minutes remaining but the Saints answered with a 10-2 run over the next four minutes to help pull away and earn the victory.
 
SMSU, 4-3 in NSIC play, will now have more than two weeks off for the holidays before returning to conference action on Jan. 5-6 hosting Bemidji State and St. Cloud State respectively inside the R/A Facility.