MARSHALL – Southwest Minnesota State closed out exhibition action on Friday night with a 102-66 victory over NCAA Division III St. Olaf College in men’s college basketball at the R/A Facility.

SMSU, which is ranked nationally in two preseason polls, will open the regular season next Friday night.

St. Olaf, which qualified for the NCAA Tournament a season ago, is ranked No. 23 in the D3hoops.com national poll.

SMSU was led by Ryan Bruggeman who poured in a game-high 22 points with eight assists and five rebounds in 20 minutes. He made 9 of 15 from the field with three 3-pointers. Nick Dufault came off the bench to score 18 points on 6 of 8 from 3-point range.

Taylor Schafer (18) and Kenny Byers (10) also scored in double figures for the Mustangs, who closed the night shooting 60 percent (37 of 62) from the field, including 18 of 26 from 3-point range.

SMSU also held a 39-28 rebound advantage and outscored the Oles 42-19 on points off the bench. Steven McNease, Michael Lee, Grant Kramer, Bruggeman and Schafer all led the Mustangs with five rebounds apiece.

St. Olaf shot just 39 percent from the field, including 4 of 18 from 3-point range. Austin Korba led the Oles with 19 points on 6 of 16 shooting.

SMSU held 9-8 advantage in the opening four minutes before back-to-back 3-pointers by Bruggeman pushed the margin to 15-8.

The Mustangs would maintain a 23-21 lead with 10:21 remaining, but used an 11-4 to build a 34-25 cushion following a field goal by Grant Kramer.

The Oles trimmed the deficit to 39-32 with three minutes left in the half, but the Mustangs closed the half on an 11-5 run, capped off by a Dufault 3-pointer to build a 50-37 halftime lead.

The lead never dipped below double digits the remainder of the game as SMSU pushed the lead to 66-44 on a Braedan Hanson 3-pointer at the 13:40 mark. Schafer would later hit a 3-pointer with 5:13 remaining to give SMSU its first 30-point lead of the game at 90-58.

Southwest Minnesota State will open the regular season next Friday, Nov. 9, hosting the NSIC/MIAA Challenge at the R/A Facility.

SMSU takes on Emporia State (Kan.) starting at 6 p.m., while earlier in the day Sioux Falls will take on Fort Hays State (Kan.) with tip-off slated for 4 p.m.

The next day, the Mustangs will face Fort Hays State at 4 p.m., followed by a 6 p.m. matchup between Sioux Falls and Emporia State.

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