MARSHALL, Minn. – The Winona State men's basketball team stormed out to an early lead and used stellar 3-point shooting to claim a 77-69 win over Southwest Minnesota State Saturday evening in Marshall, Minnesota.

The Warriors drained a season-high 15 3-pointers (15-of-31) with three different Warriors hitting at least four. Corey Jeffs drilled a season-high 5-of-10 3-pointers, while Kyle Bauman and Riley Bambenek each had four. WSU's previous season-high of 14 3-pointers came in WSU's first matchup against SMSU at home on December 4.

Kyle Bauman – one of the NSIC's most efficient 3-point shooters this season – hit WSU's first of the night just over a minute in to put the Warriors up 5-0 and spark a hot start to the game. By the time Bambenek hit one, Bauman hit his second and Jeffs connected on one as well, WSU had built a 20-4 lead with 13:14 to play in the first half.

SMSU quickly shook it off and put together a 14-0 run of its own, and trailed just 20-18 at the 8:47 mark of the first half, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Jeffs on consecutive possessions put the Warriors in front 28-21. WSU then got the lead back to double digits with 2:13 to play when Bambenek hit his second of the night for an 11-point, 36-25 lead before another SMSU run gave the Warriors a 38-33 halftime lead.

The Warriors were 8-of-12 from 3-point range in the first half, while SMSU was 3-of-8. But SMSU would go cold in the second half, hitting just 1-of-12 and finished the game just 4-of-20 from long distance.

WSU took advantage of a cold-shooting Mustang team, as a layup from Mark Blacklock and another 3-pointer from Jeffs quickly pushed the lead back to double digits less than a minute into the half. The Mustangs never seriously threatened again, with an 8-point deficit at 45-37 the smallest it would get for the remainder of the game.

Senior Nick Arenz got in on the 3-point barrage with 13:23 to play to extend the lead to 59-46 and WSU had no problem holding on for the 77-69 win.

Bauman finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting – including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers – along with five rebounds and three assists. Jeffs added a season-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting with three assists and a game-best three steals in a career-most 36 minutes of action.

Bambenek added 16 points, while Blacklock had 10 points and a team-best six rebounds.

Winona State (6-8, 5-5 NSIC) prepares for its longest road trip of the season next weekend when it heads northwest to the University of Mary and Minot State on Friday and Saturday.