Tournament Website
Box Score
 
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Ryan Bruggeman poured in 28 points, dished out six assists and had five rebounds to pace Southwest Minnesota State to a 73-66 victory over St. Cloud State in the semifinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament at the Sanford Pentagon.
 
SMSU, the No. 1 seed from the South Division, will now face the top-seed from the North Division, Northern State in the championship game on Tuesday starting at 5 p.m. SMSU, the defending tournament champion, will be making its seventh NSIC Tournament championship game appearance.
 
SMSU, which was ranked No. 4 in last week's NCAA region rankings, improves to 24-7 overall with its 10^th straight victory. SCSU, ranked No. 5 in the ranking, drops to 23-8 overall.
 
Carter Kirk recorded his 17^th double-double of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Turner Moen chipped in with 12 points and seven rebounds to help the Mustang charge.
 
SMSU shot 51 percent (30 of 59) from the field and made 6 of 11 from 3-point range, while dominating on the glass with a 35-20 rebound advantage.
 
SCSU was led by Gage Davis, who poured in 20 points, while Jon Averkamp added 15 points. The Huskies shot 51 percent (27 of 53) in the game, but were just 5 of 18 from 3-point range.
 
A pair of SMSU single-season records were set in the game as Bruggeman set the assists record, surpassing Marques Pena's record of 185 set in 2000-01. Bruggeman, the all-time leader in assists in tea history, now has 187 this season. Kirk is now the single-season record holder in rebounds with 323, passing the previous record of 313 set by Juan Mitchell in 1986-87.
 
SMSU led for a majority of the game, including building an eight-point at 16-7 lead with 12 minutes and 33 seconds left following a 3-pointer by Moen and a layup by Bruggeman.
 
SCSU rallied to cut the deficit to 19-17 with eight and a half minutes remaining, but Kirk followed with a three-point play to push the lead back to five points at 22-17.
 
SMSU would hold a 24-21 lead with seven minutes remaining before back-to-back layups by Bruggeman and Lee extended the lead to 28-21. The lead wouldn't dip below five points the remainder of the half as SMSU would eventually push the margin to its largest of the half following a Bruggeman 3-pointer late in the half to make the score 39-29. Davis would hit a last-second jumper for the Huskies to close the half and cut the SMSU lead to 39-31 at halftime.
 
Bruggeman scored 14 points and added five assists with four rebounds to pace SMSU in the first half.
 
The Mustangs shot 53 percent in the first half with four 3-pointers and held a 17-11 rebound margin.
 
SCSU exploded to start the second half, using an 11-2 run to regain its first lead since the game's first 90 seconds, at 42-41 at the 15:48 mark following a field goal from Sean Smith.
 
The Huskies would hold a 43-41 lead before the Taylor Schafer connected on a huge 3-pointer to regain the lead for the Mustangs and start a 15-2 run over the next five and half minutes, pushing the lead to 56-45 with nine minutes left in the game.   
 
SCSU cut the lead to 58-52, but SMSU would use four straight points by KJ Davis to build a 62-52 lead with 6:14 remaining.
 
SCSU answered with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 62-59 with 4:41 on the clock and would eventually cut the lead to two points on a pair of occasions, including 66-64 with a minute left in the contest. On the ensuing SMSU possession, Michael Lee connected on his only 3-pointer of the game with 40 seconds left to make the score 69-64. The Mustangs made four free throws in the final 23 seconds to seal the victory.
 
SMSU and NSU will be meeting for the third time this season with each team winning on the road. NSU earned an 81-66 non-conference win in Marshall on Nov. 15, while SMSU picked up a 64-57 win in Aberdeen, South Dakota, on Jan. 27