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Marshall, Minn. The University of Minnesota, Morris men's basketball team fell short today (Nov. 20), 87-65 against Southwest Minnesota.

The Cougars and the Mustangs started the game going back and forth with UMM taking the lead early at 12-8 with 16:01 left in the first half. From there, however, the Mustangs began an 18-to-6 run that lasted over 11 minutes, and gave them a lead they would never relinquish.

Southwest Minnesota held on to a lead near 10 for the majority of the rest of the first half, except for a spell where Clay Fischer (Pine City, Minn.) scored five straight to cut the lead to five with just 2:30 to go. The Mustangs answered with six straight on their way to a 38-28 lead going into the locker room.

The first half the stats were nearly even with UMM shooting 12-of-37 (32.4%), compared to a 14-of-29 (48.3%) mark from SMSU. The Mustangs were able to capitalize at the free throws line as they went 10-of-10, while the Cougars struggled even getting to the line and finished 0-of-2 in the first half.

Going into the break Steve Birman (Duluth, Minn.) and Fischer both eight points, while Daniel Fragodt led the team in rebounds at the break with five.

In the second half the Cougars began to find their stride and brought the game within four points at 46-42 with 14:46 left to play. Down the stretch, though, the shots fell for SMSU, and after the Cougars got the score within four, the Mustangs went on a 19-to-7 to all but put the game away.

With 4:41 left in the game, the Cougars brought the score within nine, but the high powered Mustang offense was just too much for UMM. In the end the Mustangs overpowered the Cougars en route to the 22-point margin at 87-65.

Birman finished with 19 points to lead the Cougars while, Derek Schmidt (East Grand Forks, Minn.) and Fischer also finished in double figures with 12 points each.

The Cougars are now 2-1 on the season and will play their first home game of the season on Tuesday night Nov. 23 when they will host Jamestown at 7:00 p.m.