MARSHALL, Minn. – Jake Phipps scored a career-high 28 points on 12 of 17 shooting, while also grabbing a team-high eight rebounds to pace Southwest Minnesota State to an important 69-60 victory over Upper Iowa in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball inside the R/A Facility on Friday night.
 
The victory, along with a loss by Wayne State, moves SMSU into a second-place tie in the NSIC South Division standings at 11-8 and improves its overall record to 15-9.
 
UIU, which was led by Nick Reid's 16 points and 10 rebounds, drops to 13-12 overall, 10-9 NSIC.
 
Cliff McCray and Dunwa Omot also scored double figures for SMSU with 11 point each, while Jakob Braaten added five points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. McCray pulled down six rebounds with teammate Noah Chamberlain adding five rebounds.
 
SMSU closed the game shooting 50 percent (26 of 52) from the field, including 8 of 15 from 3-point range and held a 39-33 rebound advantage.
 
UIU shot 36 percent (22 of 62), while making just 8 of 31 from 3-point range.
 
Both teams struggled with turnovers as SMSU finished with 19, while UIU committed 15.
 
SMSU started the game scoring the first seven points before UIU rallied with a 13-2 run to take a 13-9 lead at the 11:30 mark.
 
UIU would build its largest lead of the half at 23-17 and would later hold a 28-23 advantage with 3:40 remaining, but SMSU answered with a Phipps 3-pointer and a Cliff McCray layup to tie the game at 28 at the halftime break.
 
Phipps had a huge first half with 19 points on 8 of 10 shooting.
 
UIU would make five 3-pointers in the opening half, while SMSU connected on four.
 
SMSU had another first start to open the second half scoring 10 straight points in the first four minutes to build a 38-28 lead. The Mustangs would later maintain a 46-36 advantage at the 11:46 mark following a Phipps layup, but the Peacocks would answer with seven straight points to trim the deficit to 46-43.
 
Majok Majouk would end the UIU run with a big 3-pointer midway through the half, but UIU wouldn't go away and cut the SMSU lead to 51-48 with seven minutes remaining.
 
Omot drilled a 3-pointer and was followed by Jakob Braaten free throw and a layup by McCray to make the score 57-48.
 
UIU would later convert a three-point play to cut the deficit to 58-54, but Phipps came through with a clutch three-point play with 1:51 to give SMSU a 61-54 lead.
 
Moments later Majouk hammered home a dunk off a missed shot and McCray added two more free throws to push the lead to double-digits at 65-54 and seal the victory.
 
SMSU concludes the weekend on Saturday hosting Winona State for 'Tropical Night' with game time set for 3:30 p.m.