MANKATO — The Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team’s slide down the standings continued on Saturday as the Mustangs lost 74-71 to Minnesota State. The loss was the fourth in a row for the Mustangs, who have fallen from a tie for first place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings to third place, two games back of second-place Augustana and just a game ahead of Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State.

SMSU trailed by as many as 15 points in the game and faced a 65-51 deficit with seven minutes left in regulation.

A pair of 3-pointers from Jakob Braaten and Isaiah Schafer helped spark the Mustangs from there, and a 3-pointer from Mekhi Shaw cut the gap to 69-67 with two-and-a-half minutes to play. After Will Opsahl answered with a jumpshot for the Mavericks, Braaten responded with another layup to keep it a one-possession game.

Traijan Sain, however, knocked down a 3 for Minnesota State with a minute to play and SMSU wasn’t able to recover. A Braaten layup brought the gap to 3 points, but after a defensive stop, Shaw missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer as Mankato held on for its 10th straight win.

Braaten served as the offensive engine for the Mustangs, scoring 18 points on 7 of 10 shooting with a pair of 3-pointers. He also dished out six assists on one turnover, and his seven total and two offensive rebounds were second only to Micah Schlaak’s 10 total and four offensive boards.

Schlaak also scored 13 points on the game of 4 of 11 shooting, earning SMSU’s first double-double of the season, while Aeron Stevens and Shaw each contributed another 12 points.

Both teams consistently protected their possessions in the game, SMSU finishing with nine turnovers while Minnesota State finished with 10. The Mavericks held SMSU without a single fastbreak point and outscored the Mustangs 16-11 in points off turnovers.

SMSU led 7-4 after the first three minutes of the game before Minnesota State took control with 9 unanswered points. The Mustangs eventually regained a 17-15 lead on a Braaten 3-pointer, but Minnesota State went into halftime with a 37-28 edge and never looked back.

Sain scored 15 points in the game to lead a group of five Mavericks in double figures. Among those players, Arhman Lewis also scored 13 points with nine assists and seven rebounds on two turnovers. Lewis shot 6 of 12 from the field despite missing each of his four attempts from 3-point range.

SMSU falls to 14-9 overall and 12-6 in NSIC play with the loss. With four games left on the schedule, the Mustangs will look to regain their momentum when they open a three-game homestand with a matchup against Winona State (9-14, 8-10 NSIC) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.