MARSHALL, Minn. – Dunwa Omot scored a season-high 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting to pace No. 18 ranked Southwest Minnesota State to a hard-fought 79-66 victory over No. 11 Minnesota Duluth in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball on Friday night inside the R/A Facility.
SMSU improves to 7-1 overall, 2-0 NSIC, while UMD drops to 5-2 overall, 0-1 NSIC. SMSU had defeated UMD 13 straight times inside the R/A Facility dating back to 2004. The Mustangs have won 20 of the last 24 overall since the 2005-06 season.
SMSU, which led 33-30 at halftime, pulled away in the second half shooting 53 percent in the final 20 minutes, while limiting UMD to 41 percent.
Steven Kramer added 17 points to pace the Mustangs, while
Aeron Stevens (12) and
Jakob Braaten (10) also reached double figures in scoring. Stevens, Braaten and
Mason Lund all grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
SMSU finished the contest making 28 of 56 (50 percent) from the field, while connecting on 7 of 22 from 3-point land.
Charlie Katona led the Bulldogs with 18 points and seven rebounds. UMD closed the night shooting 37 percent (23 of 63) from the field, including 7 of 31 from 3-point range.
UMD built an early 11-5 lead before SMSU rallied with a 17-2 run over a nearly seven-minute stretch to take a 22-13 lead with 8:37 left in the half. The Mustangs made 7 of 11 field goals during the run, while limiting the Bulldogs to 1 of 10 shooting.
UMD answered with its own 11-4 run to pull within 26-24 before eventually tying the game at 28 with 1:47 remaining. SMSU would close the half with a Lund dunk and three free throws in the final 90 seconds to build a 33-30 halftime lead.
UMD scored the first four points of the second half to regain the lead, but seven straight points by Kramer put the Mustangs back in the lead at 40-34 at the 16:40 mark.
SMSU continued to hold a slight lead until midway through the half when UMD scored five straight to tie the game at 51 with nine minutes remaining. Stevens would stop the run with a field goal before Braaten connected on a 3-pointer to push the SMSU lead to 56-51 with just over eight minutes left in the game.
UMD would continue to battle and eventually tied the game on a Joshua Brown 3-pointer to make the score 58-58 with 6:29 left. SMSU would go back out in front moments later on a
Calvin Buss layup before Braaten made another huge 3-pointer to push the lead to 63-58 an the Mustangs would not trail again.
SMSU maintained the lead at 67-63 with 3:32, but the SMSU defense was solid down the stretch to seal the win. Stevens and Omot ended UMD's comeback attempt with back-to-back field goals to extend the margin to 71-63 at the 1:41 mark.
SMSU will conclude the weekend on Saturday hosting Concordia-St. Paul with tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m.
