ST. CLOUD — Despite facing a 15-point deficit eight minutes into the second half, the No. 10 Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team showed an ability to overcome adversity on Saturday when it rallied to claim a 63-60 victory over St. Cloud State. The win protected SMSU’s place atop the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference standings.

Trailing 51-36, Aeron Stevens started the Mustang surge with a layup and Mason Lund followed up with a 3-pointer. A pair of layups from Steven Kramer and another from Jakob Braaten capped off an 11-0 run to trim the deficit to 4 points.

St. Cloud’s lead teetered between one and two possessions until a Mekhi Shaw and-1, a pair of free throws from Mason Lund, and a steal from Lund that set up a pair of free throws for Kramer gave SMSU a 61-60 lead with 38 seconds to play. The lead was SMSU’s first since it lead 34-23 with 7:30 to play in the first half.

St. Cloud State still had time to answer, but Nate Dahl missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with three seconds to play. The Huskies were forced to foul, Braaten made both free throws to make it a 3-point game, and Luke Winkel missed the heave at the buzzer as SMSU held on for the 63-60 win.

Jakob Braaten led a group of four Mustangs in double figures with 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting. His four assists were also a team-high, his three steals tied Kramer for a team-high and he was one of three Mustangs with a block along with Stevens, Lund, and Caleb Schlaak with two.

Also scoring in double figures, Stevens scored 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting with three 3-pointers. Kramer and Lund added in 12 and 10 points respectively.

The Mustangs continued to play shorthanded with Dunwa Omot still out due to injury.

The battle on the boards was even with 30 rebounds apiece. Lund led SMSU with seven rebounds, all defensive, while Wyatt Hawks grabbed 10 rebounds for St. Cloud.

The first half of Saturday’s game was back-and-forth for the first 12 minutes. Yet, a pair of 3-pointers from Nate Dahl and Kynan Philippe and an Anish Ramall jumper quickly gave St. Cloud momentum with a 31-24 lead with five minutes remaining. SMSU wasn’t able to cut into that deficit and a Lucas Morgan free throw gave St. Cloud its largest lead of the half, 38-30, as it headed into the locker room.

SMSU improves to 17-3 overall and 12-2 in the NSIC with the win, keeping them one game ahead of Minot State and two ahead of Concordia-St. Paul. The Mustangs will host Augustana (S.D.) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. The Vikings are 9-11 overall and 6-8 in the NSIC this season, but the Mustangs have every reason to play with a chip on their shoulder after falling 62-59 when the teams met in the Elmen Center on Dec. 19.