Box Score

MARSHALL, Minn. – Looking to end the 2008-09 regular season campaign on a high note, the Northern State University Wolves instead ran into a buzz saw in the form of the 14th-ranked Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs, a team that has now won its last 15 games and claimed the outright Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season title with Saturday's 66-51 win.

The Mustangs, who are also the top-ranked team in the latest NCAA Central Region rankings, held NSU senior Kevin Ratzsch to single digits for the first time all season while forcing the Wolves into a season-high 20 turnovers on the night.  SMSU translated those offensive miscues into 28 points, while also dominating the inside game and the offensive glass.

In fact, SMSU dominated nearly every statistical category in the game except for shooting percentage.  The Mustangs, however, made up for that deficit by getting off nearly twice as many shots as the Wolves, thanks in part to NSU's unusually high number of turnovers.

While the visiting Wolves never led the entire game, they did keep things close through much of the first half before the Mustangs closed out the period with an 8-3 run, going up by as many as 12 points before NSU junior Robert Thomas converted on a 3-point play to cut the lead back to single digits heading into the break.

SMSU then opened the second period with a 12-4 run to take control of the game for good.

Junior Mitch Boeck was the only player to find double digits for the Wolves, finishing with ten points and four rebounds.  Ratzsch, who had not scored fewer than 13 points in any game this season, finished with just nine points, as did fellow senior Kyle Schwan.

SMSU's Ryan Krome led a balanced Mustang attack and finished with a game-high 13 points.  All but two players to see the court for the Mustangs also found their way into the scoring column, while Ross DeMasi registered a game-best 10 rebounds.

NSU's loss, which drops them to 18-9 overall on the year and 11-9 in NSIC play, coupled with a Concordia-St. Paul victory over Upper Iowa, puts the Wolves in a tie for the seventh place spot in the conference standings with the CSP Golden Bears.  Both teams await final seedings for the post-season conference tournament, which begins with first-round games on Wednesday.