Photo by Samantha Davis. Southwest Minnesota State University's Steven Kramer runs the offense in the second half against Wayne State Tuesday night at the R/A Facility in the NSIC opener game. Kramer had a career-high 18 points in the Mustangs 76-56 win.

MARSHALL — Steven Kramer and Mekhi Shaw each scored new career-highs to help lead the No. 18 Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team past the undefeated Wayne State Wildcats with a dominant 76-56 win Tuesday night in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener at the R/A Facility. Kramer finished with 18 points, and Shaw had 15.

“We lost two years in a row against them at their place [at the start of conference play], and we usually got them back when we came back here,” junior guard Mason Lund said. “That was one of the things we wanted to learn from, with what we were doing those last two years to start off conference play and see what adjustments we needed to make … It worked out.”

SMSU entered the night playing its third game in four days, after playing a pair of games in Fayette, Iowa on Nov. 23 and 24. The Mustangs went 1-1 on the weekend, dropping its first loss of the season in overtime 79-78 to Upper Iowa.

In an effort to take down the Wildcats and get back in the win column, Lund followed Kramer with 16 points, while Aeron Stevens tallied nine points and eight rebounds, and Shaw also had a team-high three steals.

SMSU built up a 17-point lead in the first half, which eventually was cut, but it was able to regroup midway through the second half to take a strong advantage back to finish the game off.

“Going into this one, we knew Wayne State was going to be very physical,” SMSU head coach Brad Bigler said. “I was just worried that our fatigue would allow their physicality to affect how we play. I thought, for the most part, our guys did a great job of playing through contact and making each other better.”

The game was bound to be a competitive one, as the Wildcats entered the night averaging 77.6 points a game, just three points above the Mustangs’ 74.4 average.

The Wildcats led the all-time series with the Mustangs 44-37 ahead of Tuesday, but it was SMSU that came away with the 67-54 victory the last time the two met in February last season.

Overall, the Mustangs shot 58.3% from the field, 38.9% from the 3-point going 7-for-18, and collected 38 rebounds. They held the Wildcats to 35.6% from the field, 4-for-27 shooting from the arc and 28 rebounds.

SMSU came out challenging Wayne State from the start, and was outperforming the Wildcats on several counts.

Through the half, the Mustangs shot 63.6% from the field, collected 15 rebounds and eight assists, to Wayne State’s 42.3% shooting, 11 rebounds and four assists. Both teams had 16 points in the paint.

After starting the game tied 13-13, SMSU broke away on a 17-0 run to create a 30-13 advantage, while Wayne State shot 0-8 from the field.

“We were able to get out and have a little bit of pace, and not go against our set defense,” Bigler said. “I think that created some easier opportunities for us.”

Jakob Braaten got the game started with a 3-pointer with an assist from Stevens after SMSU won the tip.

Braaten finished with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Kramer hit back-to-back baskets with a jump shot and layup, along with a Stevens steal that resulted in a Dunwa Omot layup.

Following a couple of missed shots, Bigler could be heard telling his team, “Just play, don’t think.”

SMSU continued on a 7-0 run behind Kramer and Braaten layups and a Shaw 3-pointer, forcing the Wildcats to call a timeout.

“If we play with the energy that we had at the beginning for all 40 minutes, we’re not going to lose any games,” Kramer said.

SMSU was finding comfort beyond the arc, and shot 4-for-9 at the 3-point line to the Wildcats’ 2-for-13 shooting in the first.

Wayne State ended the half by cutting its once 17-point deficit to single digits behind a 16-6 run. SMSU headed into the locker room with a 36-29 lead.

The Wildcats came out of halftime on a mission with a 6-0 run, and eventually tied the game up at 38 and took the lead following a tip-in.

Calvin Buss hit a 3-pointer to bring the Mustangs back within a point after trailing 42-38.

Wayne State grabbed three quick steals in the first few minutes of the half, which seemed to fluster the Mustangs until they could get another shot to fall from a Buss 3-pointer to cut the game to a single point at 42-41 after trailing by 4-points.

“A lot of people would blame it [losing a lead] on playing three games in four days, getting tired and this and that, but it’s just coming down to the little details,” Kramer said. “We missed some easy assignments in the first half, and had some dumb turnovers. All we had to do was clean stuff up, get the energy back that we had at the beginning of the game.”

The Mustangs found themselves back in front 51-44 after a pair of Kramer field goals and two free throws from Shaw, which put some momentum back into the home team.

“We started out really hot, and then we just kind of lost energy,” Lund said. “The big thing coming out of the half was to get back to those first five minutes. We didn’t do that. We ended up giving them the lead, but then we were able to find what we had to start the game again and then go on a big run to finish it out.”

Wayne State was full-court pressing throughout the second half, but SMSU found moments to break through including an open dunk by Stevens with seven minutes to go.

The Mustangs ended with 14 fastbreak points to the Wildcats’ 4.

“We’ve got some really, really good guards that you can trust,” Kramer said. “My job is really to get it to them, and get open again. We all have a lot of trust in those guys taking care of us.”

A technical foul was called on the Wildcats’ bench, which resulted in a free throw from Braaten and a 54-46 SMSU advantage.

A Braaten 3-pointer, a pair of Kramer dunks and two more layups from Stevens helped the Mustangs built up another cushioned 67-50 lead, getting the crowd’s energy back up and Wayne State’s chances of coming back began to get harder with the clock running down.

“The big thing was to not change what we were doing when we had the momentum going,” Lund said. “We got the lead, and we didn’t want to hang back, stop doing what we were doing and let them creep back.”

The last dunk brought Kramer, a sophomore guard transfer from the University of South Dakota, his new career-high.

“It definitely feels great, I’m finding my role. I’ve been with these guys for a couple months, just really figuring out where my niche is,” Kramer said. “They were already so good last year, that I don’t want to affect anything that they had going. Yeah. So, just finding where my spots are and getting there. It’s getting easier every game.”

Kramer’s former career-high was just earlier this month, when he scored 16 points against Nebraska-Kearney on Nov. 9.

“It was nice to see Steven step up in the moment … His ability to win his 1-on-1 matchup and really finish the transition, his tip-dunk put some energy in the gym,” Bigler said. “It shows what he’s capable of doing, he’s a very talented player.”

Shaw hit the game’s final jumper to seal the deal on the 20-point victory, and officially took down the unbeaten Wildcats.

Shaw grabbed his new career-high following the basket. He previously had 13 points last season on Feb. 10 against Concordia-St. Paul.

“He [Shaw] obviously scored and did some of that stuff, but what’s really big on the stat sheet is the [plus/minus] category,” Bigler said, to Shaw’s game-high plus 23 efficiency stat on the night. “When he’s on the floor, we won by 23 points. It just shows that Mekhi can affect the game in so many ways; Defensively, offensively, scoring, but also making the team better.”

Tuesday’s win marks another notable victory for the Mustangs in handing the Wildcats’ their first loss, in addition to taking down last year’s Division II national champions Minnesota State on Nov. 16.

SMSU, (5-1, 1-0), will next stay at home with a game on Saturday against Briar Cliff University (Iowa) with a 2 p.m. tipoff at the R/A Facility.

“It’s a long fall. A couple days of rest is probably a good thing,” Bigler said. “Go be around family … We’ll be good. A couple days off is not a bad thing.”