After splitting its road trip against Minnesota Duluth and Concordia-St. Paul last week, the Southwest Minnesota State mens basketball team will look to close out its road schedule on a high note when it faces St. Cloud State and Bemidji State this weekend.

True freshman Aeron Stevens broke a pair of long-standing program records in last weekend’s games by going 5-of-7 from the charity stripe. His 98 free throws made and 134 free throws attempted both surpassed the previous freshman records, both of which were set in the program’s inaugural 1967-68 season.

Cliff Cofield led the Mustangs in their win 87-64 win over Concordia-St. Paul on Saturday, scoring a game-high 23 points while Jake Phipps added another 16 points and eight rebounds in the win. The day before, Phipps notched 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a block in a 70-64 loss to the Bulldogs. SMSU led 35-33 at halftime but, about halfway through the second half, the Bulldogs took command of the game and the Mustangs were unable to fight their way back into it.

As they head into their final road trip of the regular season, SMSU sits at 14-10 overall and their 11-7 record against Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference record puts them fifth in the conference. Sitting two games back of the last first-round bye for the conference tournament, currently held by Minot State, the Mustangs will need a strong showing as they head into their final four games of the regular season.

The Mustangs will first try to pick up some momentum when they take on St. Cloud State (11-13, 7-11 NSIC) on Friday. The Huskies are 11th in the NSIC after winning three of their last four games, the exception being an 83-76 loss to Northern State. Last weekend, the Huskies took down UMary 75-61 and outscored the No. 15 Minot State Beavers by 9 points after halftime to secure a 72-68 win. Wyatt Hawks had 17 points and eight rebounds in the upset win.

SMSU pulled away late when they hosted the Huskies back on Jan. 6 for an 86-75 win, led by 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting from Jake Phipps and 20 points with three 3-pointers from Dunwa Omot. Stevens also had 17 points and Lund added 10 rebounds in the win, while Lucas Morgan led St. Cloud with 15 points on eight attempts.

The Mustangs and Huskies are both among the conference’s lower-scoring teams, ranking 11th and 9th respectively in points per game. While the scoring numbers are similar, how they got there is different. SMSU ranks fourth in the NSIC in field goal percentage and second in field goal percentage allowed, limited in their scoring average only by pace of play. St. Cloud State, however, ranks 13th in the NSIC in field goal percentage and 12th in field goal percentage allowed.

Jamiir Allen and Morgan have led the Huskies in scoring thus far, averaging 10.3 points per game on 48.2% effective field goal percentage and 10.2 points per game on 52.8% respectively. Allen, a freshman, is averaging just 21.2 minutes per game and only made his first two starts last weekend. He did have some growing pains in his new role — he scored 16 points on 5-of-19 shooting over the two games — but his 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting the game before shows his potential to grow into the role.

For the Mustangs, Phipps has continued to be incredibly efficient with a 58.5% effective field goal percentage while ranking 12th in the NSIC with 15.5 points per game. His 6.7 rebounds per game and 1.2 blocks per game also rank 10th and third in the conference.

Cofield and Jakob Braaten have been huge for SMSU’s efforts in the turnover battle this year, averaging 1.8 and 1.4 steals per game to rank first and fifth in the conference. As a team, however, SMSU has put together a minus-0.08 turnover margin on the season while St. Cloud State clocks in at plus-0.25. Allen leads the team with 1.2 steals per game while Lucas averages another 1.0, along with 0.6 blocks per game.

On Saturday, SMSU will take on Bemidji State, whose 8-10 conference record puts them in a tie with Northern State for ninth in the NSIC.

Prior to last weekend, the Beavers had lost six consecutive games but they bounced back with a pair of double-digit wins over Northern State and Minnesota Crookston. Sutherland scored 28 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists while Dalton Albrecht added another 26 points and nine rebounds in an 86-70 win over Northern State on Tuesday. From there, Albrecht led the team with 31 points on 13-of-15 shooting from the field with five 3-pointers, as well as 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks, in an 80-62 win over Minnesota Crookston.

In the Beavers’ first matchup of the year against the Mustangs, Dunwa Omot knocked down five 3-pointers to score 23 points — both season-highs — to lead the Mustangs to an 82-65 win over the Beavers. BJ Davis led Bemidji State with another 21 points on five trifectas in the game.

Sutherland has led the Beavers’ offense over the course of the season with 21 points per game — fifth in the NSIC — on a conference-leading 59% shooting from the field. No other players are higher than 55%. Albrecht also adds another 17.3 points per game, good for 10th in the NSIC, on 36% from 3-point range for a 56.1% EFG.

The Beavers’ primary scoring duo has also been dominant on the boards. Albrecht’s 10.2 rebounds per game lead the conference while Sutherland’s eight rebounds per game also rank fourth, helping the Beavers to a conference-best plus-6.3 rebounding margin.

The battle on the glass could be a struggle for the Mustangs. While they limited Bemidji’s bigs last time, outrebounding the Beavers 31-25, SMSU’s plus-1.3 rebounding margin puts them 10th in the conference. Bemidji’s 11.5 offensive rebounds per game also rank second in the NSIC behind SIoux Falls’ 12.3.

The Mustangs’ game against St. Cloud State is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. in Halenbeck Hall. Tip-off against Bemidji State is slated for 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. A radio broadcast of the game can be found at 105.1 FM KARL while live video and stats are available online at SMSUmustangs.com.