ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team suffered its second straight loss on Saturday night with Northern State earning a 70-63 victory inside the Barnett Center.
 
NSU, which entered the game shooting 32 percent from 3-point range, closed the victory making 11 3-pointers on 23 attempts. NSU moves to 8-14 overall, 8-8 NSIC.
 
SMSU drops to 14-7 overall, 12-4 NSIC. The Mustangs, which led 37-34 at halftime, shot just 33 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 46 percent (26 of 56) from the field. SMSU was 3 for 13 from 3-point range.
 
Mekhi Shaw scored a team-high 16 points for the Mustangs while Aeron Stevens added 15 points and Jakob Braaten closed with 13 points. Micah Schlaak led the Mustangs with seven rebounds.
 
Marshawn Smith poured in a game-high 27 points on 11 of 21 shooting. The Wolves finished the game shooting 48 percent (26 of 54) and held a 36-31 rebound advantage.
 
NSU started red-hot from the field and built a 23-10 lead with 8:54 left in the first half. NSU would later hold a 32-22 advantage at the 3:53 mark before SMSU had its best run of the game to pull into the lead. The Mustangs closed the half on 15-2 run making seven of eight field goals with Shaw scoring six points to take a 37-34 halftime lead.
 
Smith opened the second half with back-to-back 3-pointers to quickly put NSU back in the lead and never trailed again. SMSU would tie the game at 50 midway through the half with Braaten hitting two free throws.
 
NSU held a 54-50 lead with eight minutes remaining and was held scoreless for four minutes, but SMSU could only tie the game with field goals by Landon Pokorski and Braaten. With the game tied at 54 with four minutes left, NSU's Ben Bowen connected on his only 3-pointer of the game to put the Wolves back in the lead.
 
SMSU pulled to within 59-58 at the 2:11 mark but NSU would pull away on an 11-2 run to seal the victory.
 
SMSU will now return to NSIC South Division action next Thursday, Feb. 5, playing at conference leading St. Cloud State with game time at 7:30 p.m. SCSU enters the game on a 10-game winning streak.