Photo courtesy of SMSU Athletic Communications SMSU’s Weston Baker Magrath looks to make a move around a MSU Mankato defender during their game on Friday. The Mustangs fell to the Mavericks 67-57.

MANKATO — Minnesota State held Southwest Minnesota State without a field goal for more than seven minutes late in the second half to snap a tie game and earn a 67-57 victory in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference men’s basketball on Friday night at Bresnan Arena.

SMSU’s Cliff McCray drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 47 with eight minutes remaining, but the Mustangs made just one of nine field goal attempts and committed five turnovers for the remainder of the game.

SMSU, which shot a season-low 31 percent (18 of 58) from the field, drops to 3-5 overall, 0-2 NSIC.

MSU is now 3-4 overall and 1-0 in league play. The Mavericks’ Cameron Kirskey, who was just 1 of 6 shooting and scored two points in the first half, exploded in the second half with 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting. He finished with a game-high 21 points with seven rebounds. Kelby Kramer scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds for MSU.

Nick Dufault led the Mustangs with 15 points on four 3-pointers, Cliff McCray added 12 points with two 3-pointers. Kenny Byers recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

MSU held a 45-40 rebound advantage and closed the game shooting 40 percent (22 of 55) from the field.

SMSU started the game slow falling behind 9-3 in the opening five minutes, making just one of its first nine shots.

MSU held an 18-9 advantage with 11:50 remaining, but SMSU would slowly cut into the deficit, before finally taking the lead. Trailing 26-20 at the 6:37 mark, SMSU went on an 8-0 run, highlighted by a Dufault 3-pointer and capped by a Weston Baker Magrath dunk, to put the Mustangs in front 28-26 with 4:22 remaining. Dufault would later connect on another 3-pointer to give SMSU its largest lead of the half at 33-29, before settling for a 33-31 lead at halftime.

Dufault led all scorers in the opening half with 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting with three 3-pointers.

Baker Magrath, who scored nine points in the game, scored the first field goal of the second half to push the SMSU advantage to 35-31. The Mustangs though went ice-cold from the field over the next six minutes as MSU used a 14-2 run to retake a 45-37 lead with 13 minutes left in the game.

SMSU battled back and countered with Dufault drilling a 3-pointer to spark a 10-2 run, which was capped off by a McCray 3-pointer to tie the game at 47 with eight minutes remaining.

Kirksey, MSU’s leading scorer entering the night, answered reeling off six straight points to put the Mavericks back in front at 53-47 with 5:35 remaining. The six straight points started a 10-2 MSU run, which pushed the lead to 57-49 with 3:40 on the clock and the Mavericks never looked back in earning the victory.

SMSU finished the second half shooting 26 percent (7 of 27) from the field.

Southwest Minnesota State resumes NSIC play today taking on Concordia-St. Paul at 5:30 p.m. in St. Paul.

— Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications