WINONA, Minn. – Riley Bambenek scored a season-high 24 points and Kyle Bauman recorded eight blocks as the Winona State men's basketball team pushed its winning streak to four with a 78-69 victory over Minot State Saturday in front of 1,637 fans in McCown Gym.

Bambenek finished 7-of-14 from the field while tying his season high with seven assists and also grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out a pair of assists and recording a steal.

Bauman was a defensive force, swatting eight Minot State shots, the most blocks in a game for the Warriors since March 11, 2007 when John Smith tied the program record with nine. Bauman had a great all-around performance, adding eight points and a team-high eight rebounds to the stat sheet.

After the Beavers jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, Bauman made the Warriors' first shot from the field, followed by back-to-back threes from Tim Wagner and Bambenek to move in front 11-9. Corey Jeffs soon after hit a jumper to knot the game at 13-13, and on the other end Kyle Bauman had racked up his fifth block with 9:18 to go in the first half. A few minutes later Conrad Masberg hit a 3-pointer – the first of his three in the game – to tie the game at 20 apiece. Wagner followed with another 3-pointer as the back-and-forth game saw the Warriors take a three-point 27-24 lead with 3:03 to play in the half. Neither team would gain any separation, as the game was tied at 29-29 with time winding down in the period before Isaiah Gray got a jumper to go to beat the buzzer and put the Warriors up 31-29.

Gray opened the second half scoring as well, hitting a 3-pointer to put the Warriors up 34-29, but a Michael Pelo 3-pointer brought the lead back to just one at 38-37 less than three minutes into the half. Masberg countered with a 3-pointer of his own, but Minot State had another answer and would assume a 3-point lead at 45-42. Masberg's third 3-pointer of the game would tie it back up, but the Beavers would hang around, holding another slim two-point lead with 12 minutes to go when a Brandon Green layup made it 49-47.

After Corey Jeffs scored to knot it at 49-49, the Warriors would never trail again as it sparked a 10-3 run to put the Warriors up 59-52 with 8:22 to play. The pesky Beavers would again cut it to just two when a Michael Pelo 3-pointer bought it to 59-57, but eventually a Bambenek jumper bought it back to 63-57 with five minutes to play and the Warriors would finally pull away. Bambenek would hit one final nail-in-the-coffin 3-pointer with 47 seconds left to put the Warriors up 76-63 before the eventual 78-69 final score.

Masberg finished up a solid weekend for the Warriors with a 16-point performance on the strength of a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc and 5-of-6 from the field overall. Gray was the third Warrior in double figures, finishing with 12 points and tying a career-high with five assists.

The Warriors hit the 50 percent shooting plateau for the third time in the past four games, making 29 of 58 shots while going 8-of-17 from long range. The Warriors also tied a season-low with just five turnovers to go with their season-best 13 team blocks.

Winona State (9-7, 6-6 NSIC) heads back on the road next week for a tough Friday test, taking on No. 9 Augustana at 8 p.m. in Sioux Falls, S.D. before traveling to Wayne State to take on the Wildcats at 6 p.m. in Wayne, Neb.