By: Kelly Loft

Tournament Website

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Southwest Minnesota State rallied from a 10-point deficit with less than three minutes remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime and then tied the game in overtime with one second remaining, before eventually earning a dramatic 97-89 double overtime victory over Augustana in the semifinals of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Monday night at the Sanford Pentagon.
 
SMSU, ranked No. 2 in last week’s NCAA Central Region poll, improves to 25-5 overall and advances to Tuesday’s night championship game versus Upper Iowa starting at 7:30 p.m. UIU defeated SMSU twice during the regular season.
 
SMSU will be making its sixth NSIC Tournament championship game appearance, winning its lone title in 2012.
 
Augustana, ranked No. 6 in the region rankings, drops to 23-8 overall and will await for a possible NCAA tournament at-large berth on Sunday night.
 
Ryan Bruggeman, after scoring a career-high 34 points in last night’s win over Sioux Falls, scored a game-high 26 points with eight rebounds and eight assists. Joey Bartlett scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Taylor Schafer (12), Michael Lee (11) and Mitch Weg (10) also all scored in double figures for the Mustangs.
 
SMSU finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field (32 of 70) and made 7 of 22 3-pointers. SMSU held a 44-37 rebound advantage and forced 16 Augustana turnovers. SMSU held a 25-7 scoring advantage on points off of turnovers.
 
Augustana was led by Mike Busack, who scored a team-high 26 points on 8 of 17 shooting. John Warren also had a big night, connecting on six 3-pointers and scored 18 points.
 
The Vikings finished the game shooting 46 percent (32 of 70) from the field, including 11 of 29 from 3-point range.
 
Augustana jumped to an early six-point lead, but SMSU slowly cut into the deficit and took its first lead of the game at 13-12 following three straight field goals by Mitch Weg.
 
Bruggeman later would close off a 12-2 run with a jumper at the 10:21 mark to push SMSU’s lead to 19-14.
 
Augustana would answer back and regain the lead with 6:17 remaining, but Joey Bartlett started and capped a 10-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers to give SMSU its largest lead of the half at 31-23.
 
SMSU would maintain a 33-25 minutes later before settling for a 37-33 halftime lead.
 
The Mustangs shot 61 percent in the opening half and forced the Vikings into 10 turnovers. SMSU held a 15-2 scoring edge in points off of turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
 
SMSU would maintain the lead until AU’s Warren connected a 3-pointer to tie the game at 48 with 11:44 left in the game. The Vikings would use a 12-2 run to build a 53-30 lead with 9:31 remaining.
 
AU would later push the lead to 70-60 with 2:52 left in regulation before SMSU made its comeback. Schafer connected on a jumper and later drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 70-65 with 2:04 remaining. Following a missed AU field goal attempt, Lee hit a 3-pointer with 1:40 on the clock to pull SMSU to within 70-68.
 
AU would take a 72-68 lead on its next possession, before Bartlett answered with a layup with 57 seconds remaining. Following a turnover by AU, Bruggeman scored with 24 seconds left to tie the game.
 
AU’s Adam Beyer missed a potential game-winning jumper with one second left to send the game into overtime.
 
In the first overtime, SMSU would build a 79-74 lead following a jumper from Davis, but AU would answer and regain the lead at 83-81 with 8.3 seconds left on a Warren 3-pointer. SMSU quickly rushed the ball up the court with Bruggeman missed a layup, but Bartlett scored on the rebound to send the game into double overtime.
 
SMSU scored the first four points of double overtime and never looked back in earning its first double overtime victory since 2011. SMSU is now 2-1 in overtime games this season.