Box Score Winona, Minn. --- Minnesota State head coach Matt Margenthaler earned his 200th career victory Saturday evening as his 22nd-ranked Mavericks earned a hard-fought 80-74 victory over seventh-ranked Winona State, handing the Warriors their second loss in three games.
Senior wing Jefferson Mason led the charge for the Mavericks with a game-high 23 points as four Mavericks finished in double-digits.
“I am so proud of the way our kids battled. ” said Margenthaler, who is now 200-82, in his nine-plus seasons with the Mavericks. “Our bench came in tonight and did some fantastic things for us. We were by far the tougher team tonight. This is a great win for our program heading into the holiday break.”
The first ten minutes dictated the pace for the game as the two squads combined for 25 points as Minnesota State opened a 13-12 advantage at the media break.
Mason led the Mavericks to open the game with seven of the squads first 13 points, three of which came at the free throw line.
Minnesota State went on a 14-5 run to open a 27-17 lead at 6:05 remaining forcing a Warrior timeout. The run was sparked by five points by senior guard Marcus Hill and five more points by Mason.
The Mavericks extend the lead to 14 when senior guard Taylor Morrow hit a jumper and then gathered a steal, went coast to coast and converted a beautiful layup giving MSU a 33-21 advantage with four minutes and 18 seconds remaining in the half.
Winona State’s used an 10-0 run to close the first half thanks in part to six consecutive points by senior guard Anthony Tucker as the Mavericks took a 37-31 lead at the break.
Mason led all scorers with 16 points in the first half while Hill added nine. The Mavericks shot 48.3 percent in the opening half while limiting Winona State to 33.3 percent. The Warriors won the battle of the boards, 23-17 in the first half, including 15-7 on the offensive end.
The Mavericks retuned from the half with the intensity they lacked in the final two minutes of the first half as it opened the second half with a 16-8 run to open a 14-point lead at 13:53 remaining in the game. Mason sparked the run with six points.
Winona State wouldn’t go away as it drained a pair of three’s and converted a layup to cut the Maverick deficit to 56-47 with 9:52 remaining, forcing a Maverick timeout.
Winona State would whittle the lead down to five at 56-51 with 7:44 remaining before the Mavericks used a 5-0 burst to open a 10-point advantage at 61-51. The Warriors continued to battle as Tucker hit a three with 4:07 remaining to cut the Maverick advantage to 65-59. Fisher then hit a pair of shots, a layup and a three to cut the lead to two at 66-64 before senior guard Cameron Hodges went hard to the rim to convert a lay-up and get fouled.
The foul – which prompted a protest and technical foul from the Warrior bench – was a four-point swing for the Mavericks as Hodges hit his free throw on the original foul and Hill hit 1-of-2 off the technical, giving MSU a 70-64 lead. On the ensuing possession Mason hit the back end of a two-shot attempt from the line pushing the Mavericks to a seven point advantage with 2:21 remaining.
From that point on, MSU sank five of eight free throws to ice the win.
Mason finished the night shooting 5-of-12 from the floor and 9-of-13 from the stripe to lead the team with 23 points. Hill added 17 points while Hodges had 16– 12 in the second half - and Morrow had 10. Redshirt freshman Connor O'Brien hauled in 10 rebounds to lead the Mavericks, marking his third game this season with 10 or more rebounds.
The Mavericks finished the night shooting 46.3 from the floor while Winona State hit on 41.9 percent of their opportunities.
Minnesota State (9-1, 5-1 NSIC) is off till Jan. 1, when it hosts MSU Moorhead at 4 p.m.
Game stats can be found HERE
Head coach Matt Margenthaler and senior guard Taylor Morrow discuss the win:
