Mustangs suffer 85-75 loss to AU, snaps eight-game win streak
MARSHALL — Dunwa Omot finished with a team-high 23 points in his first game back in nearly three weeks coming off an injury, however the No. 13 Southwest Minnesota State University fell 85-75 to Augustana Thursday evening in a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference game. The loss ends an eight-game winning streak.
AU has defeated SMSU now nine straight times, going back to the 2013-14 season.
“I want to give Augustana a lot of credit,” SMSU head coach Brad Bigler said. “Augustana was the better team tonight … Their sense of urgency was a little bit better than our sense of urgency, and I give them credit for being prepared and ready to go.”
Both SMSU and Augustana were locked in with one another the entire night, trading off leads and feeding off one another’s momentum. Although trailing for a large part of the first half, the Mustangs earned an 8-point halftime lead, but were outshot through the second.
Along with Omot, Jakob Braaten finished with 17 points and a team-high nine rebounds, and Aeron Stevens tallied 8 points and led with four assists.
SMSU was limited to 46% field goal shooting, 39% from the arc and went 69% from the free throw. AU shot at 46-50-84% marks. The Mustangs were also outrebounded 37-31.
Omot has been sidelined since suffering a left ankle injury on Jan. 10. However, he fit right back in and played a major hand in helping SMSU get in front in the first half after AU held the lead for 15 minutes.
Omot led the Mustangs with 17 first half points, 15 of which came from 5 of 8 shooting at the perimeter.
“It was good to have him [Omot] back. We’re all working together to try to figure out those rotations and getting guys back into a certain rhythm,” Bigler said. “It’s always nice to have him back.”
The Mustangs entered Thursday looking for revenge. The Vikings also handed them their most recent loss when the two met in Sioux Falls on Dec. 19. Augustana defeated SMSU 62-59 that night.
SMSU went into the second half up 42-36 after a battling first half, and the game went down to the final minute.
AU cut the Mustangs’ lead to 55-54 with just under 12 minutes to go, and Omot went up for a layup to end a short scoring drought.
But, the Vikings tied the game up at 57 with a 3-pointer in response and took a 2-point edge with a pair of free throws two minutes later.
Braaten, another key offensive player of the night, hit a 3-pointer as the two continued to hit shots in response.
The Mustangs forced an AU inbound turnover and Stevens went up for a layup to give SMSU a 68-67 lead with five minutes to go.
SMSU was struggling to find an answer to the Vikings’ Jack Hastreiter, who had a career-high 24 points on 8 of 9 shooting and shot a perfect 7 of 7 from the 3-point line.
“Jack Hastreiter has a performance that is one that you dream for,” Bigler said. “He stepped up making seven 3’s tonight, did a fabulous job for them, and was really a difference maker in the game.”
SMSU supporters began to stand up and chant ‘defense’ with a 71-67 deficit with just under three minutes left.
AU’s shots continued to fall as the Mustangs’ missed a few in the row, and the Vikings grew to a 76-67 lead with 1:34 to go.
Braaten and Mason Lund each hit a 3-pointer to bring SMSU within 6 points with 46 seconds to go, 79-73, and began to foul to put AU at the foul line.
After two Vikings’ free throws and a fast break layup, the Mustangs trailed 83-75 with the time of one shot clock left.
The deficit was too much to overcome with time dwindling down, as AU continued to protect its lead and its win-streak when visiting Marshall.
“I think tonight was really all about shot-making,” Bigler said. “They had guys who don’t normally make threes, make those threes. They just were able to just knock down big shots tonight, and that was the difference.”
The Vikings jumped to a quick 7-0 lead to start the game, and forced Bigler to call a timeout a minute and a half in.
Stevens found a cutting Caleb Schlaak from the baseline to get the Mustangs on the board out of the reset.
“On a positive note, I thought Caleb Schlaak played great tonight,” Bigler said. “I thought his energy was one that was very impactful.”
Schlaak finished with 8 points and six rebounds.
Omot hit his first 3-pointer of the night after, and Steven Kramer stole the ball on defense to feed the basketball up to Braaten to cut into a 9-8 deficit.
AU went back on another run to take back a 17-10 lead, but Braaten responded with three consecutive buckets of his own shortly after. A 3-pointer and a pair of jump shots brought the Mustangs back within reach.
Omot drilled in a 3-pointer, and another Kramer steal resulted in a fast break dunk from Omot to bring the Mustangs within 3 points, 29-26.
A few minutes later, both teams continuing to respond to one another, Omot hit back-to-back 3’s to give SMSU a 39-36 edge as the R/A Facility became electric with cheers.
In the final four seconds of the half, Lund got the ball at the right wing, put up a shot fake and stepped to the left to shake off his defender and nailed a 3-pointer to put SMSU up 42-36 heading into the locker room.
“I think at that point, we were playing with a little bit better pace,” Bigler said. “Our defense was creating offense, and they [AU] did a great job in that second half taking care of the basketball and just not letting us get our way.”
Despite the loss, the two head coaches showed immense sportsmanship toward one another as AU head coach Cody Shilling passed Bigler in the hallway postgame with a pat on the back saying, “You’re the best team in this league.”
SMSU now moves to 17-4 overall and 12-3 in conference, and still remains at the top of the NSIC standings, ahead of Minot State (20-4, 11-4).
The Mustangs have two regular season home games left, but will next look to get back on the right track when it hits the road to take on Sioux Falls (12-9, 8-7) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.