Box Score MARSHALL, Minn. – Unable to repeat recent history from Valentine's Day, the University of Mary men's basketball team witnessed its season come to a close with an 82-65 loss at Southwest Minnesota State University in the opening round of the 2014 NSIC / Sanford Health Men's Basketball tournament. Chris Mason and Marc Musungayi combined to score 42 points for the Marauders but U-Mary was unable to slow an efficient Mustangs attack.
 
Twelve days ago the Marauders (7-21 overall) defeated the Mustangs (18-11) 74-65 in Bismarck, N.D., by holding SMSU to one of its lowest shooting percentages of the season.
 
Tonight on the Mustangs home court, SMSU rarely seemed to miss, connecting on 54.2 per cent of its shots. U-Mary, meanwhile, hit on just 43.1 per cent of its field goal attempts, one of the biggest statistical differentials on the night.
 
An exciting game early as both teams exchanged leads, a Shaun Condon three-pointer capped a 16-2 Mustangs run that pushed the SMSU advantage to 30-15 with 5:48 remaining in the opening half.
 
Down 13 to start the second half, a Musungayi put-back and a dunk helped the Marauders score 10 of the first 14 points in the period and cut the deficit to seven. Keyed by Joey Bartlett three-pointers on three straight SMSU possessions, the Mustangs responded with an 11-2 run to increase its lead to 58-42.
 
U-Mary made one last run, scoring 9-of-10 points to close the gap to 61-53. Isaac Lindquist sparked the rally as the freshman forward scored five of U-Mary's points. A Bartlett basked ended the Marauders run and pushed the Mustangs lead back to double digits, where it remained the rest of the night.
 
Mason hit three treys and was 7-of-8 on free throws in a solid follow-up to his 29 points effort at MSU Moorhead last Saturday.
 
Musungayi was tremendous on the floor, scoring his 20 points on a 10-of-12 shooting performance. He also had six rebounds.
 
Lindquist scored a career-high nine points and hauled down four rebounds in 10 minutes of play, Damonta Henry chipped in seven points, six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Germain DeCesote also had two blocks plus six rebounds and five points.
 
Vinard Birch led SMSU with 18 points. Bartlett added 17 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Nick Smith posted twelve points, nine rebounds and three blocks. Bartlett's performance provided the Mustangs a 25-9 scoring edge off the bench.
 
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