ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State used solid defense, limiting St. Cloud State to 28.6 percent shooting, in earning a hard-fought 65-52 road victory in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's basketball at Halenbeck Hall.
 
SMSU, which swept the season series versus SCSU, improves to 15-10 overall, 12-7 NSIC.
 
Cliff Cofield led a balanced scoring attack for the Mustangs pouring in a team-high 14 points on 5 of 8 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers. Mason Lund and Jake Phipps each scored 12 points, while Aeron Stevens chipped in with 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
SMSU shot 52 percent (24 of 46) from the field, including making 6 of 15 from 3-point range. SMSU, which didn't attempt a free throw in the first half, closed the game making 11 of 16 free throws.
 
Matt Willert led the Huskies (11-14, 7-12 NSIC) with 16 points while making three 3-pointers. SCSU closed night making just 18 of 63 field goal attempts, including 9 of 31 from 3-point range.
 
The 28.6 percent shooting was the lowest by an SMSU opponent this season.
 
SMSU started the game strong scoring the first nine points with Lund scoring seven points.
 
SCSU tied the game at 11, but a Cofield 3-pointer midway through the half sparked an 11-3 run to give SMSU a 22-14 advantage with just under six minutes remaining. Lund and Kyle Luedtke hit 3-pointers, while Dunwa Omot scored on a layup during the spurt.
 
SCSU would cut the deficit to 28-22 late in the half before Phipps closed the opening 20 minutes with a layup to give the Mustangs a 30-22 halftime lead.
 
SMSU continued its strong defense in the second half limiting SCSU to just five points in the first seven minutes in building a 41-27 lead following a Lund dunk off a pass from Jakob Braaten. SMSU would later use a three-point play by Phipps and an alley-oop dunk by Aeron Stevens off a pass by Cofield to push the margin to 48-32 midway through the second half.
 
SCSU took advantage of missed SMSU free throws putting together an 11-4 run to trim the SMSU lead to 52-43 at the 6:30 mark, but Cofield drilled a 3-pointer to stop the run and extend the lead to double digits.
 
SMSU will have its final road regular season game on Saturday taking on Bemidji State at 5:30 p.m.