Southwest Minnesota State University's Aeron Stevens goes up for a shot in the first half Thursday night.

MARSHALL — Aeron Stevens joined the 1,000-point club for the Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team in Saturday’s Tropical Night matchup against Minnesota Crookston. The junior forward exploded for 31 points to lead the Mustangs past Crookston for a 90-46 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win.

Stevens is the 30th player in SMSU history to reach 1,000 career points as a Mustang, joining teammate Jakob Braaten who reached the milestone on Jan. 10.

In Saturday’s game, Stevens shot 10 of 16 from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range and 8 of 12 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds and blocked a pair of shots in just 21 minutes of action.

Isaiah Schafer finished the game as SMSU’s second-leading scorer, getting hot off the bench with 15 points on 5 of 7 shooting in 11 minutes of play. Braaten also scored 11 points for SMSU while Mekhi Shaw added another 10.

The Mustangs never trailed in the game, first taking the lead with a Stevens 3-pointer. It wasn’t until halfway through the first half that SMSU started to pull away, however.

Leading 18-13, a Shaw 3 and a Mason Lund layup brought the Mustang advantage to double digits. SMSU ran with those points for a 14-3 run, eventually closing out the first half with a 37-20 advantage.

The Mustangs continued to turn up the dial offensively in the second half, scoring 8 unanswered points coming out of the locker room. The Mustangs went on to lead by as many as 49 points.

The Mustangs limited the Golden Eagles to 31% shooting from the field and 25% shooting from 3-point range, while SMSU shot 48% and 45% on 29 3-point attempts.

Donez Lindsey and Alijah Washington were the only Golden Eagles to score in double figures, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Landon Pokorski dished out a game-high five assists on one turnover for SMSU. His two steals also tied Braaten and Shaw for a team-high, helping SMSU to a 25-0 advantage in points off turnovers.

Working back toward

the spotlight

After dropping out of the National Association of Basketball Coaches Poll following a slow start to the season, SMSU is starting to live up to its preseason expectations. SMSU received votes in the latest poll, though still falling outside of the top 25. The Mustangs were ranked ninth in Division II in the preseason poll.

Up next

SMSU now sits at 14-5 overall and 12-2 in conference play. While SMSU has won six consecutive games and 12 of their last 13, St. Cloud State has also remained hot on an eight-game winning streak to keep the two teams tied atop the NSIC. SMSU looks to keep its winning streak alive next week when it goes on the road to take on Jamestown (9-11, 7-7 NSIC) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Northern State (7-13, 7-7 NSIC) on Saturday at 6 p.m.