Box Score

MANKATO, Minn. — Jefferson Mason scored 26 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as Minnesota State (27-4) defeated Fort Lewis (24-8) 81-63 tonight at the Taylor Center to win the NCAA Division II Central Region and earn a berth in the NCAA-II Elite Eight, which begins March 23 in Springfield, Mass.

The Mavs ended a run of five straight playoff wins (three in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Shootout, two in the NCAA Division II Central Regionals) for the Skyhawks, winners of last week's RMAC postseason tournament.

The loss marked the end of the careers of six Skyhawk seniors — Kyle Behrens, Connor Drumm, Tayler Faust, David Kanyinda, DeAndre Lansdowne and Daniel Steffensen.

Lansdowne, perhaps the greatest Skyhawk of all-time and FLC's career scoring leader, notched a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds and was the lone FLC player on the All-NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament Team. He finished his four-year career with 1,861 points, 170 more than the No. 2 scorer in school history (Tim Bieri, 1,691, 2003-07).

Junior center Matt Morris added 13 points for FLC, while David Kanyinda scored 12 and Daniel Steffensen had 10.

Cameron Hodges scored 23 points, while Joe Drapcho added 12 for the Mavs. Marcus Hill had a game-high 13 assists for Minnesota State.

Steffensen had six assists for FLC, while Matt Billups had five and a game-high four steals.

Fort Lewis, which matched Minnesota State basket-for-basket for much of the first frame, trailed 44-34 at intermission and couldn't trim the lead to fewer than eight points in the second stanza.

Minnesota State's inside game allowed them to succeed from the charity stripe. The Mavs made 84 percent of their free throws (21 of 25), while Mason went 10-of-12. Fort Lewis took only 15 free throws, making 10 of them (66.7 percent).

The Mavs outrebounded FLC 32-24.

Fort Lewis matched a school-record 24 wins in 2010-11.

The all-tournament team consisted of three Mavs — Mason, Hodges and Hill — plus Lansdowne and Metro State's Reggie Evans.