Photo by Ari Selvey: Minneota running back Destin Fier races to the end zone after a big catch during the Class A State Football Tournament against Parkers Prairie Saturday at US Bank Stadium.

MARSHALL — When the Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team hosted Minnesota State for a non-conference matchup on Saturday afternoon, the visiting Mavericks were ranked No. 1 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll. Yet, it was the hometown Mustangs that looked like the nation’s top team, dominating Minnesota State from the opening tip to claim a lopsided 81-68 victory. 

“They were the national champions from last year, we knew they were going to bring it, our focus was just matching that energy, if not bringing more than them,” SMSU forward Dunwa Omot, a Mankato native, said. “They lost a couple key players from last year, but they still bring a surrounding core that’s pretty good, so we still had to bring our A-game. It’s early in the year, obviously there are mistakes we can clean up later, but just go out and battle and that’s what we did.”

SMSU treated fans to an early scoring barrage to stake their claim to an early lead. A pair of layups from Aeron Stevens and Dunwa Omot gave the Mustangs each of the game’s first 4 points. After Will Opsahl responded with a 3-pointer for the Mavericks, another layup from Jakob Braaten and an Omot 3 extended the SMSU lead to 6 points.

Mekhi Shaw continued to extend the lead by answering a Minnesota State layup with a 3-pointer of his own to make the score 12-5. The two teams traded buckets for the next several minutes until a pair of layups from Stevens and Omot and a Stevens 3-pointer gave SMSU a 28-15 lead, prompting a Minnesota State timeout. 

The duo of Stevens and Omot were on fire offensively in the first half to help SMSU carry a 51-36 lead into halftime. Stevens went 6 of 8 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers for 16 points while Omot added 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting with another 3-pointer. 

“It was a different type of defense that we saw from the last couple of games. They switched almost everything, so there’s a lot more space,” Omot said. “They let you play 1-on-1 and all week, we worked on winning our 1-on-1 battles because that’s how they play defense. Everyone had their time today to win their 1-on-1 battles and just execute when the time comes.”

The duo finished as SMSU’s leading scorers on the day, with Stevens scoring 25 points with 2 of 3 shooting fro beyond the arc and Omot goin 3 of 3 beyond the arc for 21 points.

While both teams had quality shooting in the first half, SMSU had a particularly shot hand. They shot 7 of 12 from beyond the arc, compared to 6 of 15 for the Mavericks, and also dominated the paint with 24 points to Minnesota State’s 18.

With seven minutes remaining in the first half, Braaten had a sequence in which he grabbed a rebound that led to a Mason Lund midrange jumper and then a steal leading to an Omot layup, extending SMSU’s lead to 34-17. 

Braaten accounted for thre of SMSU’s four first-half steals, propelling the team to a 9-0 advantage in fast-break points and points off turnovers. He finished the night with a career-high five steals, as well as scoring 10 points. Despite being undersized, Braaten also proved himself able to alter shots, tying Stevens with two blocks in the match, trailing only Omot’s three.

“We talked about competing around the ball, keeping them out of the middle and I think everybody did a great job of just getting up and bringing the intensity,” Braaten said. “Just kind of put our heads down and we were able to make plays on the ball.”

SMSU head coach Brad Bigler said that he felt Shaw, Omot and Braaten were very active and well-positioned all night long, and that his team’s activity was key to generating first-half runs.

SMSU led by as many as 18 points when a Stevens top-of-the-key 3-pointer gave the team a 51-33 lead with eight seconds remaining until the break, but Kyreese Willingham answered by banking in a shot from just beyond halfcourt to cut the deficit to 15 points at halftime. 

SMSU finished the game with a narrow 28-25 rebounding advantage, though Minnesota State scored 12 second-chance points off 11 offensive rebounds compared to SMSU’s 8 points off seven offensive boards. Mason Lund led SMSU’s rebounding effort with seven total rebounds and two offensive boards while Stevens and Braaten each added another six. 

Caden Kirkman and Malcolm Jones led Minnesota State rebounders with eight rebounds apiece, including three on the offensive glass for Kirkman. Jones also led the Mavericks in scoring with 13 points while Kirkman tied Will Opsahl for second on the team with 12 points each.

Braaten got a layup, a steal and a pair of free throws to start the second half and a Calvin Buss 3-pointer gave SMSU a 6-0 run coming out of the locker room. After Harrison Braudis went 1 of 2 at the line for Minnesota State, a Shaw layup gave SMSU a 60-37 lead with 16:10 left to play in the second half, its largest lead of the game.

Shaw finished the game as SMSU’s leading distributor, tying Braaten with a team-high four assists while turning the ball over just once compared to five from Braaten. 

From there, however, SMSU’s offense went cold. Minnesota State held SMSU without a point for nearly six minutes. While SMSU’s defense held strong, holding Minnesota State to 1 of 11 shooting from 3-point range after the break, the Mavericks still scored 9 unanswered points in the stretch to cut the deficit down to 14 points. 

“It’s a game of runs. I think we went on our runs in the first half, and we talked about at halftime that there’s going to be a run by them in the second half,” Bigler said. “My biggest concern was when they do go on that run, let’s not scoreboard watch. Let’s just keep playing and making each other better, and then kind of settle in and finish the game.”

Part of the shift was Minnesota State’s ability to force turnovers. Minnesota State outscored SMSU off turnovers 9-4 after the break.

With six minutes remaining in the game, Opsahl hit a fastbreak layup to bring the Mavericks back within 10 points, 70-60. Yet, the Mustangs never let Minnesota State get back within single digits and held on for the victory.

Saturday’s home-opener win improves SMSU’s record to 3-0 on the season, marking the Mustangs’ best start since they won each of their first six games in the 2016-17 season. SMSU will look to keep its momentum flowing when it heads to Fayette, Iowa for a pair of games against Northwest Missouri State and Upper Iowa next week. 

After Minnesota State eliminated SMSU from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference last year, Northwest Missouri State eliminated SMSU from the NCAA Division II tournament, bringing back-to-back revenge games for SMSU on this year’s schedule.

“We just know they’re going to bring it all the time… This is a good win for us, but we’ve got to learn from it and bring even more energy for the next game,” Omot said. “At the D2 level, everyone’s competitive. Everyone brings their best games against us, but we know if we stick together and play our game, we should be fine.”

Tip-off against Northwest Missouri State is slated for 1 p.m. on Saturday while Sunday’s game against Upper Iowa is scheduled for 3 p.m.