ROCHESTER, Minn. – Southwest Minnesota State captured its first ever Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament championship with come-from-behind 76-72 victory over MSU Moorhead on Sunday night in Rochester, Minn.
MSUM held a 59-48 lead with 10 minutes left in the game, but SMSU used a 24-4 run over the next nine minutes to earn the victory. SMSU is now 1-4 all-time in NSIC tournament championship game appearances.
SMSU (19-10), ranked fifth in this week’s NCAA region poll, earns an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which will be announced at 9:30 tonight. MSUM (20-9) was ranked eighth in the this week’s rankings.
Nick Smith led SMSU with his first career double-double, scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds and recording three blocked shots. Lavione West, named the tournament MVP, scored 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Matt Zager (12) and Vinard Birch (11) rounded out SMSU’s double figure scoring, while Jordan Miller added eight points and dished out five assists for the Mustangs. Miller and Smith were both named to the all-tournament team along with West.
Jordan Riewer led the Dragons with a career-high 25 points on 8 of 10 shooting with seven 3-pointers.
MSUM shot 44.8 percent (26 of 58) from the field and connected on 14 of 29 from 3-point range.
SMSU ended the game shooting 49.2 percent (29 of 59) from the field, but shot 59.3 percent (16 of 27) in the second half. The Mustangs forced 18 turnovers, including 11 in the second half. SMSU held a 20-10 scoring advantage in points off of turnovers, including 16-3 in the second half.
MSUM was red-hot from 3-point range in the opening half, connecting on 8 of 14 3-point attempts with Jordan Riewer leading the team with four 3-pointers.
The Dragons jumped to an early 13-6 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers, but SMSU answered with an 8-0 run capped by a back-to-back field goals by Nick Smith to regain the lead at 14-13 with 14 minutes and 31 seconds left in the half.
Casey Sussenguth hit a field goal to give SMSU a 20-15 lead at the 11:53 mark, but the Mustang offense struggled in the next nine minutes and MSUM was able to take advantage and put together an 18-4 run to build a 33-24 lead.
Matt Zager scored on a pair of lay-ups to cut the deficit to 33-28, before the Dragons closed the half with another 3-pointer to take a 36-28 halftime lead.
MSUM shot 48.3 percent (14 of 29) from the field in the half with Riewer pacing the Dragons with 12 points.
SMSU shot just 40.6 percent (13 of 32) from the field and was 0 of 5 from 3-point range. Smith led SMSU with eight points in the half.
MSUM continued its solid shooting into the second half, holding a 45-32 lead with 16:30 left in the second half, before SMSU mounted a comeback and cut the MSUM lead to 49-45 with following a three-point play by West at the 12:26 mark.
But once again, the Dragons answered using the 3-point shot and pushed the lead to 59-48 with 10 minutes left in the game.
SMSU then made its decisive run and slowing cut into the lead and finally regained the lead at 63-62 with 4:09 remaining on a field goal by Smith. The Mustangs continued to pour it on and extended the margin to 69-62 with 2:18 left following a dunk by Smith.
MSUM went nearly the last 10 minutes of the game without a field goal, until hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the closing seconds.
The NCAA tournament will be announced tonight at 9:30 and can be viewed at NCAA.com