Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University’s Mason Lund takes a shot against UMary on Jan. 17 in Marshall at the R/A Facility. The Mustangs hit the road to take on the University of Jamestown and Northern State University this Friday and Saturday.

MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team enters the weekend looking to build on a current six-game win streak along with maintaining the top of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference leaderboard. The Mustangs will hit the road to take on the University of Jamestown on Friday, and Northern State University on Saturday. 

SMSU has been cruising along over recent weeks, and is currently tied for first place in the NSIC with St. Cloud State, both holding a 12-2 conference record. Along with their current win streak, the Mustangs have also won 12 of their last 13 games, marking the best 13-game stretch since the 2016-17 team started the season 13-1. 

After picking up another two wins last weekend over Minnesota State University Moorhead and Minnesota Crookston, the Mustangs received eight votes this week in the National Association Basketball Coaches Top-25 poll. 

SMSU enters the weekend 14-5 overall, and will first face off against the Jimmies who stand 9-11 overall with a 7-7 NSIC record. NSU holds a 7-13 record and is also 7-7 in conference play. 

MSUM, UJ and NSU are currently all tied for second place in the NSIC North, while SMSU and SCSU are also tied for first in the NSIC South. 

The Mustangs and Jimmies will tip off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday from Harold Newman Arena, while SMSU and NSU will play from Wachs Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m. 

A radio broadcast of both games can be found on 105.1 FM KARL, with live video and stats online at SMSUmustangs.com.

Taking a look back 

Last weekend was a memorable one for the Mustangs, who defeated MSUM in a 71-69 thriller before handling Minnesota Crookston 90-46 on Tropical Night. 

Aeron Stevens became the 30th Mustang in the program to reach 1,000 career points on Saturday against the Golden Eagles, finishing with a team-high 31 points. Head coach Brad Bigler also earned his 275th career win. 

Stevens joins Jakob Braaten as the two most recent players to eclipse 1,000 points, as Braaten did the same on Jan. 10 in a 71-62 road win over Minnesota Duluth.  

In the buzzer-beating win against the Dragons, Braaten also scored the game-winning layup with two seconds on the clock to help SMSU prevail for the victory. 

Braaten ended the game scoring SMSU’s last 6 points consecutively. 

Reuniting with the Jimmies

SMSU and Jamestown met earlier this season on Nov. 30 in an overtime battle, where the Mustangs found the answers down the stretch to come away with a 69-66 win. 

UJ currently sits 10th in the overall conference standings out of the 16 teams, and is new to the NSIC this year. 

In the last matchup, Jamestown brought the score back to one possession 68-66 with one second on the clock after a putback from Carson Woodford, yet a final Braaten free throw ended the game as UJ got off one more intentional foul. 

In the second half, the Jimmies built a 49-44 lead with under six minutes to play. But, SMSU responded with 6 unanswered points to take back a 50-49 edge with 4:56 to go following a Brayson Boike layup and free throw, and a Micah Schlaak 3-pointer. 

With less than a minute in regulation and a SMSU 55-53 lead, a pair of free throws from UJ’s Ford Okehi tied up the game to send it to overtime. 

The Mustangs currently average 75.9 points a game while the Jimmies hold a slight edge at 76.5, although SMSU remain’s as the NSIC’s leader in defense by holding opponents to an average of 66.4 points. 

While SMSU also leads the conference in terms of 3-point percentage at 41.5%, Jamestown is second in the NSIC with 10 3s made a game. The Mustangs average 9.3 a night. 

The Mustangs have been hard to stop from catching fire from the perimeter, who also enter the weekend ranking first in all of Division II in 3-point field goal percentage. 

On the defensive end, Mekhi Shaw and Schlaak rank third and fourth individually in the NSIC in steals, while Schlaak is also third in the conference with 1.5 blocks a game. 

Shaw averages 2.4 steals while Schlaak followed with 2.1. 

Jamestown is led by Anthony Walters on the offensive end, who averages 19.2 points a game. He also ranks fifth in the conference in scoring. 

Braaten, ranking 10th in the NSIC, leads SMSU with 15.8 points a game. The Mustangs also have considerable depth, with an impressive five players averaging double-figure scoring.

Wearing down the Wolves 

The Mustangs and NSU have yet to meet this season, where SMSU has won the past four straight in the series between the two. 

The Wolves are averaging 73.7 points a game with 9.3 3-pointers. They are also led by five players averaging double-figure scoring. 

Joshua Book leads the way with 14.4 points with 4.3 assists, while James Glenn follows with an average of 11.8 points. Tobi Obiora averages a team-high 7.35 rebounds, which ranks fourth in the NSIC. 

Braaten is also SMSU’s leading rebounder and facilitator, averaging 5.74 boards and 5.1 assists. His assist-mark is second in the conference as well heading in the weekend. 

The Wolves are entering the weekend looking to snap a 3-game skid, coming off losses to Concordia-St. Paul, Minnesota State and SCSU. 

The last time the two met to end the regular season last year on Feb. 22, SMSU came away with a dominant 103-71 victory. 

Mason Lund led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Stevens added in another 17 points of 3 of 4 shooting from deep. Shaw also finished with 13 points, while Braaten had seven rebounds and five assists to his 7 points. 

For NSU, Glenn finished with a team-high 16 points and eight assists, while Obiora finished with 7 points and four rebounds. 

Notably, SMSU exploded for 19 3-pointers in the win and held NSU to nine. Lund and since-graduated Dunwa Omot each had four 3s, while Shaw joined Stevens with a trio of 3-pointers. 

The Mustangs also controlled the glass with 41 rebounds to NSU’s 24. 

Coming up next week 

Following this weekend, SMSU has six games remaining in the regular season until the NSIC Tournament begins on Feb. 25. 

The Mustangs will remain on the road next weekend, taking on SCSU (15-5, 12-2 NSIC) in a crucial conference-seeding matchup on Friday, before seeing Minnesota State (13-9, 7-7) on Saturday.