WINONA, Minn. – The Winona State men's basketball team turned a one-point halftime deficit into a lopsided 100-61 victory over Saint Mary's University on Tuesday night in McCown Gymnasium.
Five Warriors scored in double digits for the second straight contest as Corey Jeffs led the way with a season-best 27 points.
The senior poured in 17 of those points in the second half in what finished as his first 20-plus point performance since his freshman year. Jeffs closed the night two points shy of career high.
Trailing 47-46 at halftime, Winona came out of the break to outscore the Cardinals, 54-14, over the final 20 minutes of play. Jeffs scored the first points of the second half and a layup by Kevion Taylor at the 18:58 mark gave the Warriors the lead for good.
Back-to-back threes by Caleb Wagner and Dalante Peyton sparked a 20-3 run which began at the 12:10 mark. Peyton scored eight of his season-high 10 points during that stretch as the Winona lead swelled to 84-59 with 7:48 left to play.
Saint Mary's scored its final two points of the contest on the ensuing possession as the Warriors closed out the final seven minutes of the game on a 16-0 run.
Connor Flack scored all 19 of his points in the first half of action, but continued to contribute in the second half as he ended the night with a team-high eight rebounds to go along with four assists and four steals.
Isaiah Easaw scored 13 points and Mason Domask's 10 points rebounded out the leading scorers. Caleb Wagner and Devin Whitelow had five assists apiece while combining for 13 points.
Peyton matched Flack with four steals as the Warriors forced 16 Cardinal turnovers, and converted those miscues into 17 points.
Winona owned a 41-30 rebounding advantage and dominated the paint offensively with a 48-16 scoring edge in the lane.
Saint Mary's was held to a 16 percent shooting effort in the second half of play after shooting 55 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
Winona State improves to 3-1 on the young season follow its first 100-point scoring output since 2010.
The Warriors open conference play at Upper Iowa University on Saturday with a 4 p.m. tip in Fayette, Iowa.
