DULUTH, Minn. – No. 22 ranked Minnesota Duluth rallied from a second half deficit to earn a 70-62 victory over Southwest Minnesota State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men's college basketball on Friday night inside Romano Gymnasium.
 
UMD (19-5, 14-4 NSIC), which suffered a double-digit loss to SMSU in Marshall, back in December, made 19 of 31 free throw attempts in the contest and closed the game with nine 3-pointers.
 
SMSU, which drops to 13-10 overall, 10-7 NSIC, committed a season-high 18 turnovers and made just two of 10 3-point field goal attempts in the second half. The Mustangs entered the game ranking 25^th in Division II averaging just 10 turnovers per game.
 
Jake Phipps led the Mustangs with 15 points, a team-high nine rebounds and a team-high four assists, while Mason Lund added 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting and a pair of 3-pointers. Dunwa Omot chipped in with nine points and in the process reached 1,000 career points. He reached the milestone late in the first half with a free throw in becoming the 28^th player to reach the mark in team history, including the second this season, joining teammate Cliff Cofield.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 45 percent (22 of 49) from the field, while making 8 of 22 from 3-point land.
 
UMD closed the night shooting 40 percent (21 of 52), which included making 9 of 25 from 3-point range. Drew Blair paced the Bulldogs with 24 points on 8 of 16 shooting with four 3-pointers.
 
UMD started the game strong in building an 18-8 advantage in the opening eight minutes. SMSU would rally moments later with a 12-2 run to tie the game at 20. Omot started the spurt with a 3-pointer and was followed by a pair of Aeron Stevens free throws and a jumper from Phipps. Following a field goal by the Bulldogs, Phipps hit a turnaround jumper and less than a minute later Lund drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game with just over eight minutes left in the half.
 
UMD would later hold a 29-25 lead, but SMSU answered with seven straight points, including five by Phipps to regain the lead at 32-29 at the 1:45 mark. Kyle Luedtke would drill his second 3-pointer of the half to push the SMSU advantage to 35-31 before settling for a 35-33 halftime lead.
 
SMSU would maintain the lead in the first six minutes of the second half, including 44-40 at the 13:47 mark, after a Mekhi Shaw layup and a free throw by Stevens.
 
With the score 46-46, UMD's Nick Katona and Blair drilled 3-pointers to give the Bulldogs a 52-46 advantage midway through the half. Lund would answer with a jumper for the Mustangs, but Blair once again connected on a 3-pointer to extend the margin to 55-48.
 
Lund would make SMSU's first 3-pointer of the second half with eight minutes left in the game to cut the UMD lead to 55-51, but the Bulldogs countered with a key 6-0 run to build a double-digit lead. SMSU would later cut the deficit to five points, but UMD made enough plays down the stretch to earn the victory.
 
Both Cofield and Shaw fouled out for the Mustangs.
 
The win was just the fourth in the last 23 match-ups for UMD over SMSU dating back to the 2005-06 season.
 
SMSU resumes the weekend road trip with a 5:30 p.m. match-up on Saturday at Concordia-St. Paul. CSP defeated SMSU, 88-68, on Dec. 8 in Marshall.