BISMARCK, N.D. — Senior Dunwa Omot moved into 10th place on Southwest Minnesota State University’s mens basketball scoring list on Friday night. The senior forward scored a season-high 27 points in the Mustangs’ 70-62 win over UMary in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, helping the Mustangs remain in a tie for first place in the conference.

Omot shot 9 of 17 from the field and 5 of 11 from 3-point range in the game, bringing him past Matt Fletcher’s 1,375 career points for 10th place on the leaderboard. He currently has 1,386 points in his career.

The win keeps the Mustangs locked neck-and-neck with Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State, with each team having one game remaining. A win for the Mustangs would secure SMSU’s third regular-season NSIC championship share and first since 2009.

After a pair of 3-pointers from Omot and Mason Lund gave teh Mustangs an early 6-0 lead, UMary stormed ahead to go up 10-9 on a Gunner Swanson 3-pointer five minutes into the game.

The Mustangs and Marauders briefly battled back and forth until a pair of 3-pointers from Omot gave the Mustangs a 17-13 lead. SMSU went on to lead by as many as 10 points in the half and went into the locker room with a 39-35 lead.

UMary wouldn’t quit, however; the Marauders took the lead when consecutive baskets from Kevin McGaskey and Wylee Delorme gave them a 49-47 lead six minutes into the half.

After two ties and a lead change, Omot knocked down a pair of free throws to give SMSU the lead for good and Mekhi Shaw followed up with a jump shot to make it a 55-51 game in favor of the Mustangs with under 12 minutes to play.

SMSU carried that lead for the rest of the game, with a Jakob Braaten 3-pointer in the final minutes bringing the Mustangs’ lead to its apex of 69-58.

In addition to Omot, Braaten and Steven Kramer finished in double figures with 11 points each. As a team, SMSU shot 49% from the field and 36% from 3 on 25 attempts; UMary shot 45% from the field and 30% from 3 on 27 attempts.

Among the key difference-makers for the Mustangs was their ability to generate offense from turnovers. While the Mustangs held a narrow 14-15 advantage in the turnover battle, they held a larger 29-16 edge in points off those turnovers.

Braaten and Aeron Stevens led SMSU to a 33-30 rebounding advantage with eight rebounds each, tying Delorme for a game-high. Stevens also led SMSU in assists, with four.

McGaskey, Delorme and Jeremiah Jones each scored 14 points for UMary but no other Marauders scored more than 5.

SMSU improves to 20-7 overall and 15-6 in the NSIC with the win. The Mustangs will wrap up the regular season against last-place Northern State (2-25, 1-20 NSIC) in Aberdeen, S.D. today at 4 p.m.