Photo by Jake McNeill: Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball seniors Luke Stevens (20), Jakob Braaten (1), Caleb Schlaak (22) and Mason Lund (13) pose with their framed jerseys while surrounded by their parents ahead of Thursday’s senior night game against Augustana on Thursday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team’s red-hot shooting after the break resulted in a senior-night win over Augustana Thursday night in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play. SMSU shot 78% from the field in the second half, including 6 of 10 from 3, as they pulled away for an 86-67 win over the second-place Vikings.

The win marked the Mustangs’ first in Marshall against Augustana since 2013. Prior to Thursday night, the Vikings had won 13 of their last 14 games against SMSU, including a 97-75 win over the Mustangs earlier this season.

“It’s a great feeling for sure. We’ve struggled the past five years against Augie in general, so it always feels good to beat Augie, and just the way we did it. Defense led the way all night and we were just efficient on offense,” SMSU senior guard Jakob Braaten said.

SMSU head coach Brad Bigler said that streaks like that can be interpreted in a few different ways, with any long streak coming with a degree of luck despite the Vikings playing high-level basketball along the way.

Braaten was one of four seniors recognized ahead of the game for SMSU. He and Mason Lund both spent their full collegiate careers with the Mustangs, while Luke Stevens and Caleb Schlaak transferred in to finish their careers in Marshall.

“I’ve been here five years, so it’s been a pretty meaningful place to me just throughout my career. It’s always tough leaving somewhere you’ve played for so long, and the fans are so good to us,” Braaten said. “Just super grateful to have this experience.”

“This group of seniors have really just demonstrated what it means to be a Mustang,” SMSU head coach Brad Bigler said. “You have Luke and Caleb, who aren’t necessarily playing Friday and Saturday, but those guys are great teammates every day and have done everything right. And it’s hard sometimes for seniors to be in that moment, but they’ve done the right things.

“Then you’ve got Mason and Braat, who have just been here for four and five years and I couldn’t be more proud of their development as basketball players, but honestly more as adults with their maturity and all the other things outside of basketball. They’re just outstanding people.”

SMSU led by a pair of points at halftime, 35-33, before Tameron Ferguson tied up the game for Augustana to start the second half. Yet, a 3-pointer by Mason Lund put the Mustangs on top for the remainder of the game.

Over the ensuing 10 minutes, it was a slow bleed for Augustana. The Mustangs didn’t go on any long runs of unanswered points, but never let the Vikings cut into the gap as SMSU’s lead slowly built up to 13 points with 8 minutes to play.

The bubble burst with five minutes left, when back-to-back 3s by Aeron Stevens and Mekhi Shaw gave SMSU a 16-point cushion.

Braaten then came up with a steal to set up a Shaw fastbreak layup, and another layup from Lund gave SMSU a 20-point lead with three minutes to play. The Mustangs led by as many as 21.

“It’s just the buy-in to each other [that allowed us to pull away],” Braaten said. “It comes down to running our scheme. We trust each other with the ball in our hands, we all know that we’re trying to make plays for each other first. We always say it’s their “I” versus our “Us.” I thought we did a great job of that tonight.”

Lund added that he felt the Mustangs did a good job of making adjustments with their gameplan after struggling against the Vikings earlier in the year.

“A lot of those adjustments are on the coaches, and we did a good job of executing what they had us doing in practice the last few days,” Lund said.

“A lot of it was just a better game plan this time, and it was nice to see the gameplan turn out the way it did.”

Shaw ended the Night as SMSU’s leading scorer with 22 points on 10 of 13 shooting from the field. He made his lone 3-point attempt, dished out five assists and came away with a pair of steals on defense.

Aeron Stevens also scored 16 points on 7 of 14 shooting while Micah Schlaak added 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting from 3-point range with a team-high seven rebounds.

For the game, SMSU shot 67.9% from the field, falling one make shy of setting a new program record for single-game field goal percentage. The current record is 68.4%.

Augustana, meanwhile, shot 48% from the field. While the Mustangs were more efficient from 2 and 3, the Vikings stayed in the game by making all 14 of their free throw attempts compared to SMSU attempting just four free throws, making three of them.

Aeron Stevens got off to a strong start for the Mustangs, laying in a basket on the Mustangs’ first possession and coming up with a steal to get another on the next.

Augustana responded with a pair of baskets of its own, but a pair of layups from Mason Lund and Calvin Buss with a Mekhi Shaw jumper in between gave SMSU a 10-5 lead through the game’s first four minutes.

The two teams remained locked in a back-and-forth battle, with two lead changes and a tie before a Stevens grenade 3 and a Brayson Boike corner 3 gave SMSU its largest lead, 21-15, halfway through the half.

SMSU maintained a narrow lead until a Terrance Ferguson layup put the Vikings back on top with 1:25 to play. Still, Micah Schlaak came right back with a corner 3, giving Braaten his third assist of the night, for a 35-33 Mustang advantage heading into halftime.

Ferguson has been one of the NSIC’s premier scorers this year, ranking third in the conference in points per game and assists. He finished Thursday with 18 points on 7 of 15 shooting as well as six assists and a pair of steals. While he’s essential to the Vikings’ offensive gameplan, SMSU tried to wear him down by attacking him on defense.

“I don’t think it was a secret that we were going to make Ferguson play on both ends of the floor tonight,” Bigler said. “In the second half, we shot 77%, and I would say in large part due to him being part of every action and us being able to get whatever we want.”

SMSU now sits at 16-10 overall and 14-7 in conference play on the season, leaving them a game back of second-place Augustana. The win also secures SMSU a first-round bye in the NSIC tournament. The Mustangs wrap up the regular season on Saturday at Wayne State.

“I think this week was a big step for that [maximizing our postseason potential], because I think we really honed in on transferring what we do in practice into the game,” Lund said. “That’s something that we maybe struggled with a little bit the last few weeks, and I think we did a lot better job of it this week. Just continuing that and really applying what the gameplan was from practice, listening and getting the job done.”