WAYNE, Neb. – The Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball closed the regular season on Saturday afternoon suffering a 72-42 loss to Wayne State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action inside the Rice Auditorium.
WSC, which never trailed in the game, closes the regular season 15-13 overall, 11-11 NSIC, while SMSU falls to 16-11 overall and 14-8 NSIC.
SMSU, which finishes the conference season tied for third place along with Concordia-St. Paul, will now turn its attention to the NSIC tournament which begins on Wednesday at campus sites. SMSU has earned a first-round bye and will play in the quarterfinals on Sunday, March 1, at 4:30 p.m. or 7 p.m., versus an opponent to be determined. The official tournament bracket will be released on Saturday night.
SMSU, which shot 68 percent from the field and made 11 of 18 3-pointers on Thursday night in a win over Augustana, was limited to 36 percent (17 of 47) shooting on Saturday, including a season-worst 2 of 23 from 3-point range. Today was SMSU's lowest scoring total and fewest field goals and 3-pointers made on the season.
Mason Lund led the Mustangs with 11 points and was the only player to reach double figures in scoring.
Micah Schlaak added seven points and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
Jakob Braaten,
Calvin Buss and
Caleb Schlaak each chipped in with five points.
WSC finished the day shooting 50 percent (29 of 58) from the field, while making 8 of 19 from 3-point range. Kai Smith and Matt Knoll led the Wildcats with 13 points. Knoll finished with a game-high nine rebounds, added seven assists and made 6 of 7 from the field.
WSC scored the first 12 points and held a 16-1 lead seven minutes into the game before
Calvin Buss sored SMSU's first field goal with 12:06 left in the half.
Lund drilled a 3-pointer while moments later Buss had a dunk to pull SMSU to within 27-15 with 4:15 remaining. WSC countered with a 7-3 run to close the half and build a 34-18 halftime advantage.
SMSU started the second half on a 9-6 run to trim the deficit to 40-27 with 17 minutes left, but WSC sealed the victory with eight straight points and were never threatened again.
