ABERDEEN, S.D. — For the third time in program history, the Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team secured a share of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season title. The Mustangs defeated Northern State 103-71 in the regular-season finale, keeping SMSU in a tie with Concordia-St. Paul for first place in the conference.

Due to tiebreaking procedures, Concordia-St. Paul will hold the top seed in this week’s NSIC tournament. The win marks the Golden Bears’ first time as conference champs.

SMSU, meanwhile, enters the postseason as the No. 2 seed. The Mustangs hold a first-round bye and will take on the winner of No. 7 Winona State and No. 10 Wayne State in the NSIC quarterfinals at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. on Saturday at 7 p.m.

In Saturday’s regular-season finale, Mason Lund led the Mustangs with 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting and finished a board shy of a double-double, grabbing eight defensive and one offensive rebounds to lead SMSU to 41-24 edge on the glass.

Aeron Stevens added another 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting while Dunwa Omot added 14 on 4 of 5 shooting. Mekhi Shaw also scored 13 points while Jakob Braaten added 7 points and seven rebounds.

SMSU passed the ball well in the game; Shaw dished out six assists without a turnover while Omot, Braaten and Steven Kramer each tallied another five.

As a team, SMSU shot 62.5% from the field and 54.3% on 35 attempts from 3. Northern State, meanwhile, shot 42.9% from the field and 30% from 3.