Photo by Jake McNeill SMSU’s Dunwa Omot drives through contact to attempt a layup in the Mustangs’ game against Truman State on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022.

MARSHALL — Despite only trailing for 20 seconds of game time, the Southwest Minnesota State men’s basketball team fell behind in the final six seconds of their 64-63 home loss to Truman State.

The Bulldogs slowly eroded the Mustangs’ lead throughout the second half. With a 1-point lead and 10 seconds remaining, Omot Dunwa turned the ball over to give Truman State a fast break opportunity. Jakob Braaten stopped the easy layup but was called for a foul. The Bulldogs converted both free throws to take the lead.

SMSU had one last chance to take the lead, but Omot’s fadeaway jumper bounced off the rim, and Truman State walked away with the win.

The first half was a completely different game than the second half for the Mustangs. They were patient with their shot selection, often taking nearly all 30 seconds of the shot clock to get off a quality look. In the second half, however, they looked frantic and settled for the contested shots they passed up in the first half.

After scoring 41 points in the first half, SMSU was held to 22 in the second half. Their scoring efficiency also dropped from 59% to 31% from the field.

“Our ability to make each other better wasn’t as good,” SMSU head coach Brad Bigler said of his team’s second-half performance. “I thought we were trying to play hero ball when the pressure got us the most. We were taking bad shots, we turned the ball over, and what that did is it allowed them to get transition buckets.”

Truman State scored 15 points off fast breaks in the second half while the Mustangs scored 2.

Omot stepped up for the Mustangs in the second half, leading the team with 7 second-half points. He finished the game with 14 points.

While the Mustangs led for most of the game, much of their lead can be attributed to Truman State’s poor shooting from behind the arc. The Bulldogs finished the first half 0-9 from 3-point range and missed each of their first three attempts in the second half before draining one.

Still, the Bulldogs knocked down the shots when necessary, including a fast-break 3-pointer with just over two minutes remaining to cut the Mustangs’ lead to 5 points.

“I think we got a little lucky,” Bigler said. “They’re normally a really good 3-point shooting team. We knew at halftime that they were going to make a few because they are a very talented team.”

Cliff McCray and Jake Phipps played very well offensively in the first half, but the Truman State defense keyed in on them and took them out of the game in the second. Each scored 10 first-half points, while McCray added four assists. Yet, Phipps was held to 4 points in the second half while McCray was shut out entirely. Phipps also contributed five assists in the second half.

While the loss was a tough one to stomach, Bigler said there were still some positives to gain from the experience.

“I just think this is such a good learning opportunity. You have two freshmen [Braaten and Mason Lund] finishing the game. For them to understand the intensity of the moment, but also how to do the little things when the pressure is on [is a good learning experience],” Bigler said. “We’ll play some things up, we’ll simplify some things, and we’ll put our guys in a position to be better next time.”

The loss to Truman State is SMSU’s first loss of the season after going 2-0 at the Rogers State Classic in Nebraska on Nov. 11-12.

The Mustangs (2-1) will begin their conference schedule Tuesday when they host NSIC opponent Sioux Falls at 5:30 p.m.

Truman State 64, SMSU 63

TS 25 39

SMSU 41 22

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Scoring (FG-FGA-PTS): SMSU (Phipps 7-12-14; Omot 5-13-14; McCray 3-7-10; Sam Schwartz 3-6-8; Lund 2-6-8)

Passing (AST-TO): SMSU (Phipps 5-2; McCray 5-2; Omot 0-4)

Rebounding (ORB-TRB): SMSU (Phipps 2-8; McCray 0-7; Majok Majouk 1-5)

Defensive (STL-BLK): SMSU (Omot 2-0; Anthony Costello 1-1; Majok 1-0; Phipps 0-1; McCray 0-1)