MARSHALL — The No. 22 Southwest Minnesota State University basketball team staved off an upset bid when Briar Cliff (Iowa) came to town over the weekend. The Chargers built up a 36-33 lead at the break but the Mustangs stormed ahead after halftime for an 80-69 win.

Facing a 3-point deficit to start the second half, a Dunwa Omot dunk and Jaakob Braaten layup gave SMSU its first lead since they were up 13-11 just over eight minutes into the game.

The teams exchanged baskets until 3-pointers from Colby Collison and Matthew Stilwill gave the Chargers a 48-41 lead with 15 minutes to play.

Braaten put SMSU back on top with a layup two minutes later and an Omot 3-pointer made the score 52-48 in favor of the Mustangs. SMSU led for the final 13:25 of game time.

a Caleb Schlaak tip-in off an Omot 3-point attempt, followed by an Omot dunk, gave SMSU a 66-56 lead with 8:40 to play. It was SMSU’s first double-digit lead of the game. They went on to lead by as many as 13 points, 74-61, with five minutes to play.

Omot finished the night as the Mustangs’ leading scorer. While his outside shot wasn’t falling, going 1 of 6 from beyond the arc, he still scored 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting. He also grabbed five steals, along with three from Mekhi Shaw, to help SMSU to a 10-17 advantage in the turnover battle and a 22-7 advantage in fastbreak points.

Braaten scored the game’s first points with a layup but the Chargers responded with one of their own.

The two teams kept pace with each other until, trailing 13-11 after a Schlaak layup, Jamison Helmers gave the Chargers a 14-13 advantage with a 3-pointer. The play sparked a 10-0 run for Briar Cliff over about four minutes.

The Chargers extended their lead to as many as 10 points when a Stillwill 3-pointer made the score 32-22 with four minutes left in the first half. Stillwill tied Helmers with a game-high four 3-pointers on nine and six attempts respectively. Stilwill’s 22 points were a game-high while Helmers added another 16.

Trailing by double digits with three minutes left before halftime, SMSU found a way to put together some late momentum. Matt Thompson hit a jumper and Shaw converted a pair of layups to make it a four-point game with two minutes left. The Chargers brought their lead back up to 6 points but an Omot free throw and a Shaw layup with one second left cut the deficit to one possession as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

As a team, SMSU struggled from long range, shooting 16% on 18 3-point attempts compared to Briar Cliff’s 38% on 29 attempts.

Still, SMSU balanced out the shooting woes with its size advantage. The Mustangs scored 58 points in the paint to Briar Cliff’s 28 and built a 35-31 rebounding advantage, leading to an 11-7 advantage in second-chance points.

Braaten grabbed a game-high seven rebounds for SMSU and dished out a team-high four assists. Shaw tied Braaten with four assists and tied Mason Lund with six rebounds.

For the Chargers, Stilwill led the team on the glass with seven boards while Helmers led the team’s distributors with five assists.

Schlaak recorded a pair of blocks in the win while Calvin Buss had another for SMSU.

Now 6-1 on the season, SMSU will host Minnesota Duluth and Concordia-St. Paul this weekend. Friday’s game against the 5-1 Bulldogs is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. while Saturday’s game against the 5-2 Golden Bears is slated for 5:30 p.m.