MARSHALL, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team made several clutch 3-pointers in the final minutes to hold off Winona State and snap a four-game losing streak earning a 79-71 victory in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action on Thursday night inside the R/A Facility.
 
SMSU improves to 15-9 overall, 13-6 NSIC, and completes the season sweep over WSU, which drops to 9-15 overall, 8-11 NSIC.
 
SMSU held a 65-63 advantage with three minutes left in the game before pulling away with a pair of clutch 3-pointers by Mason Lund and one by Micah Schlaak. Schlaak's 3-pointer with 35 seconds remaining helped seal the victory giving SMSU a 74-68 lead.
 
The Mustangs used a balanced scoring attack in earning the victory with Lund, Schlaak and Jakob Braaten all scoring a team-high 15 points, while Mekhi Shaw (11) and Aeron Stevens (10) also reached double figures in scoring.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 55 percent (28 of 51) from the field, while making 12 of 24 from 3-point range.
 
WSU, which was led by Tyler Mason's 24 points with five 3-pointers, closed the game shooting 45 percent (24 of 53) from the field, while making 11 of 23 from 3-point range.
 
SMSU held a 29-25 rebound advantage with Stevens pulling down a team-high eight rebounds. Calvin Buss had a big game for SMSU off the bench recording four rebounds and three blocked shots, including a big blocked shot late in the game.
 
WSU used a 7-0 run to build its largest lead of the first half at 19-10 with 12:37 remaining.
 
Schlaak and Lund answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 10-2 SMSU run to trim the WSU advantage to 21-20 with 8:57 left in the half. WSU would later hold a 26-20 lead before Landon Pokorski and Brayson Boike drilled 3-pointers to tie the game at 26 with 5:52 on the clock.
 
The game was later tied at 30 with 1:42 left in the half following an Aeron Stevens field goal, but Mason hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Warriors a 36-34 halftime lead.
 
Mason led the Warriors with four 3-pointers in the opening half to help WSU shoot 48 percent in the first 20 minutes.
 
Braaten paced the Mustangs with nine points in the first half.
 
Schlaak drilled a 3-pointer early in the second half to tie the game at 39, but SMSU failed to take its first lead of the half until Shaw scored with 13 minutes left to make the score 49-47. Pokorski followed with a 3-pointer before Lund scored a field goal to push the SMSU lead to 54-47 with 11:17 left in the game.
 
SMSU never trailed again, but WSU would rally and cut the deficit to 65-63 and had the ball with 3:30 remaining. Buss came through in a big way for the Mustangs with blocked shot and on the ensuing SMSU possession grabbed a big offensive rebound which led to a 3-pointer by Lund with 2:57 left to give the Mustangs a 68-63 advantage.
 
SMSU continues home play on Saturday taking on Concordia-St. Paul at 4 p.m.