MARSHALL, Minn. – Micah Schlaak poured in a career-high 23 points with five 3-pointers to pace the Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team to a 76-48 victory over the University of Mary on Saturday night inside the R/A Facility.
SMSU remains tied for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference improving to 10-2 in league play and 12-5 overall.
UMary dropped its fifth straight game and is now 5-13 overall, 3-9 NSIC.
SMSU, which never trailed in the game, shot 52 percent (28 of 54) from the field with a season-high 16 3-pointers on 34 attempts. SMSU closed the game with a 37-32 rebound advantage.
Mason Lund was the only other Mustangs in double figure scoring with 10 points, while
Jakob Braaten,
Landon Pokorski and
Mekhi Shaw each finished with nine points. Braaten closed the game with eight assists, seven rebounds and two steals, while Pokorski made three 3-pointers.
Calvin Buss led the Mustangs with a game-high eight rebounds.
Schlaak finished the game making 9 of 17 field goals, including 5 of 11 from 3-point range. He also had three blocked shots, four rebounds and three steals.
Jackson Ware led the Marauders with 14 points. The Marauders shot 30 percent (17 of 57) from the field, including 8 of 37 from 3-point range.
SMSU held an 11-9 advantage in the opening six minutes before
Brayson Boike and Lund connected on back-to-back 3-pointers.
SMSU drilled two more 3-pointers with Pokorski and Schlaak finding the bottom of the net to give the Mustangs a 23-11 lead with nine minutes left in the half.
The Mustangs, which made eight 3-pointers in the first half, made two more in the final three minutes with Braaten and Schlaak each making one to push the margin to 37-24 at halftime.
Schlaak led the Mustangs with 18 points with four 3-pointers in the first half.
SMSU put the game away early in the second half scoring the first 11 points to build a 48-24 advantage and never looked back in defeating UMary for the fourth straight time.
SMSU continues its four-game homestand next Friday, Jan. 23, taking on MSU Moorhead with game time slated for 7:30 p.m.
