WINONA, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team pushed its winning streak to four in a row with its second straight conference road victory defeating Winona State, 76-56, on Sunday afternoon inside McCown Gymnasium.
 
SMSU pushes its record to 6-4 overall, 4-1 NSIC, while WSU drops to 3-7 overall, 2-3 NSIC.
 
Micah Schlaak had a big day for the Mustangs, scoring a career-high 21 points with six rebounds, four steals and three blocks. He closed the game, making 7 of 12 field goals with five 3-pointers. Jakob Braaten had another strong game for SMSU with 13 points on 6 of 8 shooting while dishing out a game-high seven assists with four rebounds and three steals. Mason Lund also closed in double figure scoring with 10 points on a perfect 4 of 4 shooting from the field.
 
SMSU shot a season-high 59 percent (30 of 51) from the field with 11 3-pointers on 22 attempts. The Mustangs dished out 17 assists and held a 27-23 rebound advantage.
 
Aeron Stevens chipped in with nine points, four assists and three rebounds for the Mustangs with teammate Mekhi Shaw adding eight points with a pair of 3-pointers. Brayson Boike also made a pair of 3-pointers to close with six points.
 
WSU finished the day shooting 42 percent (22 of 52) with seven 3-pointers. Tyler Mason led the Warriors with 15 points.
 
SMSU jumped out to an early 9-2 lead and then used another 9-2 run to build an 18-7 advantage nearly eight minutes into the game. The Mustangs held a 20-9 lead nearing the midway point of the half before the Warriors rallied with an 11-2 run to make the score 22-20 with seven minutes left in the half.
 
SMSU however had its own answer with Landon Pokorski hitting a 3-pointer to spark a 10-0 run, capped by a Boike 3-pointer to push the lead to 32-20. Shaw and Schlaak each hit 3-pointers to give SMSU its largest lead of the half at 38-23 before WSU drilled two straight 3-pointers to trim the deficit to single digits. Shaw ended the half on a high note for the Mustangs hitting his second 3-pointer of the half, SMSU's seventh in the first 20 minutes, to build a 41-29 halftime edge.
 
SMSU shot 59 percent in the first half with seven 3-pointers on 12 attempts.
 
Braaten opened the second half converting a three-point play and later scored two straight field goals to help expand the lead to 48-31 at the 17:40 mark.
 
WSU would not go away and cut the SMSU lead to 59-50 with 10:36 remaining, but Schlaak answered with a huge 3-pointer followed by a 3-pointer by Stevens and a dunk by Schlaak to build the lead to 67-50. The Mustangs cruised from there to defeat the Warriors in Winona for the fifth straight time.
 
SMSU will play its next two games prior to the holiday break at home this week starting on Thursday with a 5:30 p.m. match-up versus Minnesota State inside the R/A Facility.