SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – A last second shot from junior David Harmon pushed Minnesota State (16-9, 12-5 NSIC) over the top on the road against Sioux Falls (12-12, 8-10 NSIC), 75-73.
 
Harmon caught the ball on the wing and swished an open look off an assist from Kyreese Willingham, who led the team in the game with 21 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. Senior Justin Eagins scored 17 points on 5-10 shooting from three and a team-high four steals in the win.
 
With the team's sixth-consecutive victory over the Cougars, the Mavericks move into third place in the NSIC standings behind Southwest Minnesota State and Concordia-St. Paul. MSU has now won three-straight. Following Saturday's game, Sioux Falls is now tied for the ninth spot in the conference with Wayne State.  
 
Willingham put the Mavericks on the board first with a two-point jumper in the first possession of the game, but the Cougars matched it immediately on the other end with a three. A few minutes later, Noah Puetz hit his second three of the game to put USF up 6-4. He dished out an assist to teammate Kenji Scales to put the home team up by four, but Eagins sunk a three to cut that deficit to one. Harmon had a tip-in basket after a Cougar and-one, then Willingham hit a three to make it a one-point game. Caden Kirkman made a layup after back-to-back layups from the home team, then Harmon made his second basket of the game to cut it back to a one-point game with 10:37 left in the first half.
 
Both teams traded buckets back-and-forth until Eagins made it a 23-21 game with a three. Puetz reached double digits with a layup, then, out of a timeout, Will Opsahl connected from deep to tie the game up with 4:25 left in the half. Sioux Falls got the lead back quickly with a layup from Shawn Warrior for his second field goal of the game. The Cougars took a six-point lead after two more layups in quick succession. Drew Daniel made his first shot of the game to end the USF run and Willingham made an and-one shot to make it a three-point game, 33-30, headed into halftime.
 
MSU shot 31.4% in the first half and made four three-pointers. The team forced six turnovers in the first half but couldn't take advantage of any of them. Willingham led with 10 points in the first half. Eagins ended the half with six points.
 
Warrior made the first two buckets of the second half to put the home team up by seven. After Harrison Braudis made a layup, Puetz quickly responded with a score of his own. He hit a three for the Cougars then Creighton Morisch made a layup to put USF up by 10 with 16:59 in regulation. Willingham threw down a slam dunk for his first basket of the second half. Braudis kicked off an 8-1 run for Minnesota State with a tip-in, followed up by three-pointers from Harmon and Eagins to cut the deficit back to three. Willingham connected on a layup and after a pair of Kirkman free throws, it was a 51-50 game with 10:12 left in the second half.
 
Morisch and Eagins traded three-point baskets to keep it a one-point game. The back-and-forth continued until Morisch made another shot from deep with 6:19 left in regulation. Willingham made a tip-in layup and Daniel tied it up with a pair of makes at the charity stripe. Willingham made a free throw to give MSU a 64-63 lead with 4:17 left in the second half but the lead swung back to USF after a pair of makes at the line from Puetz. Kirkman made a layup off an assist from Willingham, then Eagins sunk a three-pointer to give the Mavericks a four-point lead with 3:14 left to play.
 
Willingham made a layup to answer after Sioux Falls made a jumper on the other end. Kyle Ingwerson hit his first shot of the game in a huge spot, a three-pointer to cut the Cougar deficit to one with 1:06 left on the clock. Braudis made a layup to put the Mavericks up a full three points with 0:45 left in regulation, but Ingwerson sunk another shot from deep to tie the game with 30 seconds remaining. Willingham ran the clock down to eight seconds on the clock, drove left, where he was met with a double team. Harmon, who was on the other side of the court, opened up a passing lane by backing up towards the wing, and Willingham threw a great pass to him, where he nailed an open two-point jumper with 0.5 seconds left to give Minnesota State a 75-73 win on the road.
 
The Mavericks shot 28-72 from the floor (38.9% FG), 8-26 from beyond the arc (30.8% 3P). The team shot 11-14 from the free throw line (78.6% FT). Minnesota State forced 16 Cougar turnovers and had 13 steals. MSU scored 19 second chance points off 12 offensive boards, despite being outrebounded by 10 in the game.
 
Willingham was tied for the game lead with 21 points. He also ended the game with eight rebounds, four assists, a blocked shot and three steals on defense. Eagins tallied 17 points on 6-16 shooting, six rebounds, two assists, a block and four steals to lead the team before he fouled out. Kirkman scored 13 points and ended with four rebounds, three assists and a steal. The man of the evening, Harmon, scored nine points on 4-6 shooting with two rebounds and a steal off the bench.
 
The Cougars ended the game shooting 27-58 from the field (46.6% FG), 7-18 from downtown (38.9% 3P) and 12-15 from the free throw line (80% FT). USF ended the game with 44 rebounds and 17 assists. Puetz also had 21 points in the loss. Morisch ended the day with a 16-point-17-rebound double-double to go along with blocked shots defensively. Warrior tallied 14 points, seven boards and four assists.
 
"Our guys could have folded a couple of times, but they stayed together and got the win," said Mavericks head coach Matt Margenthaler. "These are games down the stretch we have to win."
 
Minnesota State has a quick turnaround as the team travels north to take on Minnesota Duluth (16-7, 11-6 NSIC). That game will be played on Tuesday, February 11 at 7 p.m. in Romano Gymnasium in Duluth. This will be the first matchup of the season between the two teams. Last time the Mavericks and the Bulldogs faced off, MSU won 97-77 in the NSIC Tournament Championship at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.


 

GAME.

David Harmon secures the 75-73 victory over Sioux Falls on the road to move Minnesota State into third place in the NSIC standings!#RollHerd #MaverickHoops ?? pic.twitter.com/z9wTkDxta2

— MSU Men's Basketball (@MinnStMBBall) February 8, 2025