Photo by Sam Thiel SMSU’s Jake Phipps looks to score during their game against Upper Iowa University on Saturday. The Mustangs fell to UIU 80-77.

MARSHALL — High-scoring has been hard to come by for the Southwest Minnesota State University men’s basketball team as of late. In their last five games, the Mustangs have averaged roughly 58 points per contest and have dropped four of those outcomes.

Entering Saturday night’s matchup against Upper Iowa University, who came in as one of the hottest teams in NSIC play, SMSU nearly put those recent misfortunes aside. Then in the blink of an eye, a promising victory for the club was unraveled.

Holding a seven-point lead with 1:19 remaining, the Mustangs saw Upper Iowa score 12 of the final 14 points in a 64-second span to seal a stunning rally by the Peacocks and give UIU a 80-77 victory over SMSU.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and have been fortunate to be on both sides of these tough games where you win games on last-second shots and sometimes you lose games on last-second shots,” SMSU coach Brad Bigler said. “I think coming out of this one, it’s important that our guys understand how to one, forgive teammates but also forgive ourselves. That’s the only way we’re going to get past this one and grow into the team that we can be when it matters the most and that’s at the end of the year.”

Late mistakes

prove costly

After seeing UIU connect on a red-hot 62% from the field in the first half, the Mustangs looked to turn things around in the opening minutes of the second frame. SMSU did just that, getting strong play on both ends of the floor to propel itself back into the game.

Trailing by 10 with a little more than 17 minutes left, the Mustangs pieced together a 9-1 run highlighted by a 3-pointer from Nick Dufault and an Andy Stafford layup to draw to within just two at 52-50. A couple of minutes later, Jake Phipps energized the crowd with three straight layups to put the Mustangs back in front at 58-57 with 8:04 to play.

Bigler said they were able to make the necessary adjustments on the defensive end during that stretch that they weren’t capitalizing on in the first half.

“Defensively, we started following through on some of our assignments and trusting our teammates and our rotations were on point where in the first half, we were locking on and not having good vision and not being in the right place at the right time,” Bigler said.

The two sides traded points throughout the next few minutes, with Kenny Byers making a pair of free throws before hitting a jumper on the next trip down the floor to give SMSU a 70-66 lead with 3:05 left. Upper Iowa got a layup to go with 1:45 remaining, but Dufault connected on a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:19 left to make it 75-68.

From there, it was nearly all Upper Iowa. The Peacocks got a 3-pointer from leading scorer Jareese Williams, who finished with 24 points, including hitting five triples. SMSU then turned the ball over, but delivered the stop on the defensive end of the floor to regain possession. With hopes of getting one final basket to put things away, the Mustangs couldn’t get a dunk to go and UIU drew a foul and hit two free throws to make it a two-point game again at 77-75 with 20 seconds remaining.

Byers then got the ball and was fouled with 11 seconds to go, but came up just short on the one-and-one free throw attempt and UIU’s Jake Hilmer raced to the basket and got a layup plus the foul with only five seconds remaining. After he made the free throw to give the Peacocks the lead back, SMSU committed another costly turnover on the ensuing inbound, and Hilmer hit two more free throws to cement the comeback victory.

Despite the final result, Bigler added he was pleased with the resiliency his team had in both of their games against Winona State and UIU and they just need to find ways to be able to put games away down the stretch.

“We took a step in the right direction this week. We actually played pretty good basketball against two of the hottest teams in the league right now,” Bigler said. “Now, we just have to find a way to quit hurting ourselves and to finish those games.”

Weathering the

storm early

The Mustangs were put to the test on multiple occasions, as Upper Iowa opened the game on a 13-4 run before SMSU raced back to trim the deficit to three at 18-15 with 12:25 left in the first half. After Cliff McCray made it a one-point game by connecting on a couple of free throws near the midway point, Upper Iowa responded with another key run, this time going on a 13-5 spurt to extend its lead to 38-29 with five minutes to go in the half.

The two teams would trade points the rest of the frame, as SMSU got as close as five, but Upper Iowa dialed in its eighth 3-pointer to give the Peacocks a 45-37 advantage going into the locker rooms and setting the stage for the tight play in the second half.

Byers led the way for the Mustangs with 16 points while Weston Baker Magrath and Phipps each added 14, McCray had 11 and Stafford had 10. McCray led in rebounds with eight while Byers led in assists with eight. As a team, SMSU shot 50% (28-of-56) from the field, including 7-of-15 from 3-point range (46.7%) and making 14 of its 16 free throws.

Four Upper Iowa players scored in double figures, with Hilmer adding 19, Jackson Joens recording 14 and Josh Carter contributing 10 to go along with Williams’ scoring efforts. Williams also led in rebounds with five while Hilmer led in assists with seven. UIU shot 50.9% (28-of-55) from the field, hitting 11 3-pointers and making 13 of its 17 free throws.

Up next

SMSU (6-14, 3-11 NSIC) will hit the road next weekend, beginning with a matchup against the University of Minnesota Crookston on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Bigler said their biggest takeaway will be to continuing to improve on their efficiency as an offense and knock down shots when they present themselves, especially from the 3-point line.

“Our offensive efficiency is starting to turn a corner and we’re starting to see some higher field goal percentages. Now we have to continue to build off of that and when those 3-point opportunities come, we’ve got to knock them down and that would just make things a little bit easier,” Bigler said. “That’s kind of holistic on the weekend from Friday night where Saturday we did hit some of those threes and really turn us into a different type of team. We just need to keep building, stay the course and keep fighting.”

Upper Iowa 80, SMSU 77

UIU 45 35 — 80

SMSU 37 40 — 77

Scoring: SMSU (Byers 3-11, 8-9 16; Baker Magrath 7-9, 0-1 14; Phipps 6-7, 2-2 14; McCray 3-7, 4-4 11; Stafford 4-6, 0-0 10; Dufault 3-10, 0-0 8; Dayman 2-5, 0-0 4).

Rebounds: SMSU 33 (McCray 8; Baker Magrath, Byers, Stafford 5).

Assists: SMSU 13 (Byers 8; Baker Magrath, McCray 2; Stafford 1).

Steals: SMSU 6 (McCray 3; Dufault 2; Byers 1).

Blocks: SMSU 3 (Baker Magrath, Byers, Phipps 1).