SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The No. 4 seed Southwest Minnesota State men's basketball team saw its season come to an end on Sunday night suffering a 79-72 loss to No. 5 seed Minnesota State in the quarterfinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Tournament inside the Sanford Pentagon on Sunday night.
 
MSU, which has won 14 of 16 games, improves to 21-11 overall and will play top-seeded St. Cloud State on Monday in the semifinals.
 
SMSU, which finished tied for third in the final league standings, ends the season at 16-12.
 
MSU never trailed in the game and held a 26-point lead in the second half. The Mavericks finished shooting 55 percent (27 of 49) from the field including 10 of 18 from 3-point range. MSU dominated the glass, holding a 32-20 advantage. Arhman Lewis paced the Mavericks with 17 points, making a team-high three 3-pointers while dishing out six assists.
 
SMSU closed the game shooting 52 percent (32 of 62) from the field, while making 8 of 18 from 3-point range. Jakob Braaten and Mekhi Shaw led a balanced SMSU scoring attack with 16 points each with Aeron Stevens (15) and Mason Lund (10) also finishing in double figure scoring. Braaten dished out a game-high eight assists.

MSU finished the game making 15 of 18 free throws, while SMSU missed its only attempt of the game. It was the first time since 2015 SMSU failed to make a free throw in a game. 
 
With the score tied at 6 three minutes into the game, MSU used a 13-2 run over a four-minute stretch to build a 19-8 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the half. Micah Schlaak and Landon Pokorski hit back-to-back 3-pointers to pull SMSU to within 19-14, but MSU answered with a 14-4 spurt to push the lead to 33-18 with 4:10 on the clock.
 
MSU would build its largest lead of the half at 36-20 before settling for a 40-26 halftime lead.
 
MSU shot 57 percent in the opening half with six 3-pointers, while SMSU shot 46 percent with a pair of 3-pointers.
 
The Mavericks scored the first six points of the second half and 12 of the first 16 in building in building a 52-30 advantage just over five minutes into the half.  
 
MSU would eventually push the lead to 62-36 with 11:26 left in the half before SMSU rallied to cut the deficit to single digits. SMSU put together a 25-8 run over an eight-plus minute span to pull to within 70-61 with 2:50 on the clock.
 
Lund connected on a 3-pointer with 1:10 remaining to cut the deficit to 73-66, but the Mavericks made free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
 
Tonight marked the final game for SMSU seniors, Braaten, Lund, Caleb Schlaak and Luke Stevens.