MARSHALL, Minn. -
James Kelley sparked a second-half surge for the Winona State University men's basketball team, helping lead WSU to an important NSIC win at Southwest Minnesota State, 72-68 in overtime.
Kelley scored 16 points, all after the halftime break, to jump start a WSU offense that was held to 23 points in the first half. Kelley was joined by Warrior teammates
Connor Dillon (18 points) and
Connor Drew (15 points) in reaching double-digit territory for head coach
Todd Eisner.
Winona State took a late lead in the second half, only to see SMSU's Anthony Costello tie the game at 61-61 with a three-pointer under a minute to play in regulation. Neither team could find the game-winner in the remaining 30 seconds of the contest, sending the affair to overtime.
In OT, WSU continued a pattern of strong free-throw shooting on the night, with both
James Kelley and
Connor Dillon draining free throw attempts with under 20 seconds to go in the extra stanza to pull Winona State ahead for good and notch the 72-68 victory.
Overall, Winona State shot 24-of-66 (36.4%) from the floor and was just 8-of-28 (28.6%) from beyond the arc, but an impressive 16-of-18 (88.9%) effort at the charity stripe led to the Warrior win. WSU out-rebounded the Mustangs, 41-34 and wreaked havoc on SMSU defensively, earning 12 steals in the game with
Luke Martens and
Declan Dillon accumulating four apiece.
The key victory allowed Winona State (14-11 overall, 9-11 NSIC) to stay within striking distance of a handful of other NSIC South teams in the postseason race for the final two playoff spots. WSU will travel to Minnesota State on Thursday, Feb. 16 in a must-win game against the Mavericks before hosting Concordia, St. Paul on Saturday, Feb. 18.
