MARSHALL, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State returned to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Friday night with a resounding 82-65 victory over Bemidji State inside the R/A Facility.
 
SMSU, which dropped two non-conference games prior to the holiday break, won its fourth straight league game and improves to 8-6 overall, 5-3 NSIC. BSU had its two-game win streak snapped and drops to 8-5 overall, 4-3 NSIC.
 
Dunwa Omot scored a season-high 23 points for the Mustangs recording his 14^th career 20-point game. Omot made 8 of 12 shots, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range, while also recording three rebounds, two steals and two assists. Mason Lund poured in a season-high 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers, while Cliff Cofield added 11 points with four steals.
 
SMSU finished the night with 14 steals to help in forcing 18 BSU turnovers, which led to a 24-11 scoring advantage for SMSU in points off turnovers. BSU entered the game with an 11-plus rebound advantage per game, but SMSU held a 31-25 rebound advantage including 14 offensive rebounds.
 
SMSU closed the game shooting 51 percent (33 of 65) from the field, which included making 12 of 29 3-pointers.
 
BSU, which was led by BJ Davis' 21 points and five 3-pointers, finished the game shooting 53 percent (25 of 47) from the field, including 9 of 21 from 3-point range.
 
The teams played closely contested opening seven minutes before BSU opened its largest lead of the first half at 22-17 with 12 minutes remaining. SMSU would rally with a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 23-23 following a layup by Jakob Braaten, two free throws from Omot and a field goal by Jake Phipps.
 
SMSU would later hold a 31-30 advantage before closing the final four-plus minutes of the half on a 13-2 run. Omot started the spurt with back-to-back 3-pointers, before drilling another 3-pointer with five seconds left in the half to push the Mustang lead to 44-33 at the break.
 
Omot scored 18 points in the opening half, while SMSU shot 53 percent from the field and forced BSU into nine turnovers.
 
The Mustangs kept the run going to begin the second half with Lund scoring five points, Cofield scoroing two points and Kyle Luedtke connecting on a 3-pointer in the opening three minutes to extend the lead to 54-35.
 
The Beavers would trim the deficit to 62-48 midway through the second half, but a Mekhi Shaw 3-pointer and layup, capped by a Cofield layup made the score 69-48 with eight minutes remaining and SMSU never looked back in defeating BSU for the fifth straight time inside the R/A Facility.
 
Luedtke finished the game with eight points, while Phipps, Shaw and Aeron Stevens each chipped in with seven points.
 
SMSU closes the weekend on Saturday hosting St. Cloud State at 3:30 p.m.