Photo by Jake Przytarski SMSU’s Ryan Bruggeman dribbles the ball during their game against Minnesota State University, Mankato on Friday. The Mustangs fell to the Mavericks 75-67.

MARSHALL – The nation’s highest percentage shooting team from behind the arc was held to just 2 of 19 from the 3-point line on Friday as the Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball team fell to Minnesota State University, Mankato by a final score of 75-67.

Reflecting on the poor shooting night, SMSU coach Brad Bigler tipped his cap to the Mavericks for their ability to defend the 3-point shot.

“I think you always want to give them credit when it’s a stat such as that,” said Bigler. “They’re very good at guarding the 3-point line. They really don’t give you a lot of options. I thought we took some tough ones a little bit, but you know what at the end of the day it was a good defensive performance by them.”

With the 3-pointers not falling thanks to a strong defensive effort by the Mavericks, the SMSU offense relied heavily on the mid-range shot with Taylor Schafer and Ryan Bruggeman picking up the team’s first two buckets to make it 6-4 in favor of the Mavericks. From there, the Mavericks would go on a 6-0 run that prompted Bigler to call timeout to regroup.

Following the break, the Mustangs began to heat up with Kenny Byers driving hard to the basket and finishing on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to 12-8.

Answering back, the Mavericks started to pull away in the latter stages of the half to take a 27-19, lead before the Mustangs seized momentum highlighted by a 3-pointer by Schafer and big rebounds and baskets by Steven McNease down-low that tied the game up at 31-31 heading into the half.

Bigler points to the work of the big man as a major source of energy for not only the team but the home crowd.

“It’s fun to see that ability where he just goes and makes energy plays,” said Bigler. “Not only does he give energy to our bench, (but also) to everybody in the gym. “He’s kind of one of those energy guys. That’s how he’s going to impact the game and I thought he did a great job of it.”

With the game all knotted up out of the half, the Mavericks came out firing on all cylinders when play commenced beginning with a 3-pointer by Cameron Kirksey to set the tone for a 12-4 run that made it 46-35 in favor of the MSU Mankato.

Midway through the half, the Mustangs trailed 55-43 and were in need of a spark in order to mount a comeback. Answering the call for SMSU as he’s done all season long was Bruggeman who was a catalyst for the offensive surge, picking up 20 of his career-high 36 points in the final 20 minutes of play and bringing the team to within six points of a tie with the score at 71-65 after trailing by 13 just minutes earlier.

Bigler came away highly impressed with his teams ability to handle adversity and battle throughout the game.

“I thought we handled some adversity better,” said Bigler. “I thought we made them work. They got some easy buckets there in the end off the press but up until that point we were really making them work.”

Executing a full-court press in the final minutes of play with the team still trailing, the Mustangs nearly completed the comeback but fell short as the Mavericks added a dunk on a fast break play to push the lead back to double digits before a Brugemann layup brought the game to its final score of 75-67.

Sitting at 0-2 in the NSIC, the Mustangs will look to pick up their first NSIC Conference victory today when they finish out their homestand with a game against Concordia-St. Paul at 6 p.m. Looking ahead, Bigler is hoping to see the same level of intensity and fight from his team that they showed on Friday but is hopeful for a better shooting performance.

“I’m proud of the guys,” said Bigler. “I thought we took a step in the right direction with our intensity and we just need to build off that, and come with that same intensity and just execute and make some more shots.”