MARYVILLE, MO. – In a season that saw the second most wins in school history, the East Central University men's basketball season came to an end at the NCAA Central Region Semifinals with a 70-74 loss to Southwest Minnesota State at Bearcat Arena.

Photo Gallery I Post Game Press Conference

The Tigers (25-8) were led by senior KD Moore, who had one of the best games of his career.  Moore tallied 21 points (one off his career-best) and a career-high 17 rebounds for just his second double-double.

Senior Braxton Reeves ended the night with 18 points, four rebounds and four assists.  That makes 741 points for the season and 1,722 for his career, ranking second in points in a single season and third in career points for a Tiger. 

The Fort Worth, Texas, native also holds the ECU records for three-point shots in a single season (129) and in a career (346), is No. 4 in career three-point field goal percentage (.428) and No. 2 in Minutes played (3,376).

The entire first half was a close battle, with the largest lead being six by ECU in the first five minutes of action.  After trading the first two shots, the Tigers used a 10-4 run over a four-minute span for the 12-6 advantage. 
The Mustangs (28-5) didn't give up the fight and over the next five minutes used an 8-0 run to take a quick 12-14 advantage.

The teams remained close for the rest of the half, with the largest ECU lead being four and the largest for SMSU two.  The last lead for the Mustangs came with 4:24 left in the stanza (23-24), but the Tigers buckled down and quickly regained the advantage and held it for the rest of the half to lead 34-33 at the break.

The second half was a lot more of the same, with the Tigers pulling ahead by a few points and seeing the Mustangs closing the gap, but not getting the advantage.  However, with eight minutes remaining the tide started to shift and SMSU used a 9-2 run to tie the game at 58.

The teams battled through low score over the next five minutes, but with 4:32 left to play ECU started to struggle to make it shots and the Mustangs made the most of several trips to the free-throw line and went on a 7-0 run to take a 64-69 lead.

Senior Donovan Halsel hit a three, with 27 seconds left, to get the Tigers with in two, but more trips to the charity stripe and an untimely turnover allowed the Mustangs to claim the 70-74 victory.

Free throws ended up being the key difference in the box score, with ECU going 12-of-17 and allowing SMSU to go 17-of-24.

The loss means saying goodbye to six seniors (Ben Brown-White, Ishmael Donzo, Donovan Halsel, Aly Hudgins, KD Moore, and Braxton Reeves) who have help turn the program around in the last four years under head coach Jay Havens.

ECU has gone from a 8-18 finish the season before Havens took over the helm of the program to having three-straight 20+ winning seasons for just the third time in school history (2014-15: 21-10; 2015-16: 22-8; 2016-17: 25-8).  The Tigers have also claimed back-to-back Great American Conference Regular Season titles, the team's first GAC Tournament Championship and the first trip and win at the NCAA Central Regional.