MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team rallied from a seven-point deficit with five minutes remaining to move to 2-0 on the season with a 77-73 victory over Nebraska Kearney on Saturday night inside the R/A Facility.
 
Aeron Stevens was one of four SMSU player to finish the game in double figure scoring with a game-high 17 points, while pulling down a game-high seven rebounds. Steven Kramer made 6 of 11 field goal attempts to finish with 16 points, Mason Lund was a perfect 4 of 4 from 3-point range to finish with 13 points, while Jakob Braaten chipped in 12 points and added six rebounds.
 
SMSU shot 54 percent in the second half and finished the night shooting 50 percent (25 of 50), while making 6 of 18 from 3-point range.
 
UNK, which suffered an overtime loss to Concordia-St. Paul on Friday night, drops to 0-2 overall. The Lopers shot a blistering 58 percent in the opening half but was limited to 39 percent in the final 20 minutes. Chase Thompson and Allen Taylor both scored a team-high 15 points.
 
SMSU closed the game with a 32-30 rebound advantage.
 
UNK opened the game strong and built a 26-17 lead with 9:32 remaining in the opening half. The Lopers' Ja'Bryant Hill drilled a 3-pointer to make the score 29-21, but SMSU rallied with a 10-0 run to regain the lead. Dunwa Omot started the run hitting a pair of free throws before connecting on a 3-pointer. Mekhi Shaw followed with a layup before Lund drilled a 3-pointer to put the Mustangs in the lead at 31-29 with 2:47 remaining.
 
UNK responded with five unanswered to close the half and take a 36-31 advantage into the break.
 
UNK would maintain the lead for the first 17 minutes of the second half until SMSU started its comeback with just under five minutes left in the game. Trailing 65-58, Braaten secured an offensive rebound and scored on a tip-in to start an 8-0 run. Following a steal by Omot, Stevens scored to cut the deficit to 65-62 before Omot made the score 65-64 with another layup. SMSU would take its first lead of the second half at the 2:25 mark on a layup by Stevens. Following a missed UNK free throw on the ensuing possession, Braaten hit the biggest 3-pointer of the game with 1:49 left to extend the lead to 69-65.
 
Kramer would make a big field goal at the 1:11 mark to push the lead to 71-66, but UNK wouldn't go away and cut the SMSU lead to 72-70 with 36 seconds remaining. Stevens would hit two big free throws moments later, while Braaten made one of two from the strip with 22 seconds left to give SMSU a 75-70 lead.
 
Thompson hit one more 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to give the Lopers hope, but Stevens made two clutch free throws on the ensuing possession to seal the victory.
 
SMSU will continue home action next Saturday, Nov. 16, with a non-conference game versus defending national champion, Minnesota State (1-3), with game time slated for 4 p.m.