Photo by Sam Thiel SMSU’s Taylor Schafer puts up a layup just past the block attempt by Concordia-St. Paul’s Evan Wesenberg during their game on Saturday. The Mustangs defeated the Golden Bears 90-86.

MARSHALL – The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball team entered its final game of its season-opening homestand looking to get back into the win column after dropping its last pair of games. The Mustangs took it to the final seconds against Concordia-St. Paul, but managed to hold on with a 90-86 victory over the Golden Bears on Saturday.

SMSU coach Brad Bigler said it took some adjusting for their team in the first back-to-back weekend of the conference schedule, but they were able to find a way to win.

“It’s tough playing back-to-back nights in the NSIC and this is the first time doing it this year,” Bigler said. “I thought our legs were a little bit not prepared but we found a way to pull it out in the end.”

The Mustangs were able to get out to a good start with a 5-2 lead in the game’s opening minutes before Concordia-St. Paul responded with a run to take a 14-13 advantage with 13:50 left in the first half. Both teams would trade points throughout the majority of the opening frame, as a jumper from Ryan Bruggeman gave SMSU a 27-26 lead.

The Golden Bears then went on a key run of their own, going on a 16-9 spurt to take a 42-36 lead, but SMSU answered right back by outscoring CSP 8-4 the rest of the first half and found itself down just two at the break, 46-44.

In the second half, early ball movement for the Mustangs led to a pair of 3-pointers from Nick Dufault and Kenny Byers and a 70-68 lead for SMSU with 10 minutes left. The Mustangs continued to hold onto a slim lead over the next couple of minutes before the Golden Bears got a run to tie things at 77-77.

SMSU then went on a five-point run – highlighted by another 3-pointer by Dufault – to make it 82-77 with five minutes to go, but CSP cut the deficit to just two at 86-84 with 1:39 left, forcing a timeout by SMSU.

Out of the break, Bruggeman weaved his way through a pair of CSP defenders and got a tough layup to go to put SMSU up 88-84 with a minute remaining. The Golden Bears responded with a layup to make it a two-point game again, but Bruggeman was able to draw a foul and connect on a pair of free throws to seal the 90-86 victory for SMSU.

Bruggeman led the way for the Mustangs with 24 points while Byers added 20, Schafer had 17 and Steven McNease chipped in 10. McNease led in rebounds with 11 while Bruggeman led in assists with 10. Bruggeman also moved into sole possession of second place on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,604 points. He now only trails Jacob Fahl, who scored 1,638 points for the Mustangs.

As a team, SMSU shot 49.1 percent (28 of 57) from the field, including 52.4 percent (11 of 21) from beyond the arc.

McNease said their key on offense their ability to drive into the lane and find the open shooters around the perimeter and just be aggressive.

“The drive and the kick. Me being a big guy down low, they were digging down on me while the guards were driving. They were colliding inside so it was leaving it open for guys like Michael and Taylor to knock down shots,” McNease said. “We were being more aggressive; that aggressive piece that we needed we brought out.”

SMSU (6-3) will hit the road for the first time this season next weekend, beginning with a matchup against St. Cloud State University at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Bigler said it’s going to be a nice change for their team to finally play away from home.

“I think it’s going to be a good change of pace getting on the road,” Bigler said. “We’ve played at home all first semester and just to get on the road and focus on basketball as we finish up the semester, I think that’ll be a good thing.”