HONOLULU, Hawaii – The Midwestern State University men went on a 9-1 run to pull within a point of 15th ranked Catawba (N.C.) with 7:37 to play Tuesday afternoon, but the nationally-ranked squad answered with an 8-0 run of its own as Catawba downed MSU 74-63 in the Hoop-N-Surf Classic.

MSU (6-3) held a five-point first half lead, only to have Catawba take a 34-32 lead into the half.

Catawba (11-1) let MSU tie the game at the start of the half at 36, then posted a 9-2 run in the next 90 seconds to grab a seven-point advantage.

MSU played out of the hole, swapping scores with Catawba, until the 10:13 mark when Tate Lombard got a layup to start the 9-1 run over the next two-and-a half minutes.  A Chris Francois layup pulled the Mustangs to within one at 55-54.

MSU had a chance to retake the lead, but a steal by Catawba's Jolly Manning led to a fast-break layup by Andy Thomson who was fouled and made the three-point play with 7:09 to play and MSU never got close again.

The key to the game was MSU's woes from the three-point arc.  Midwestern hit only 1-of-18 from the arc, while shooting just 33 percent from the floor as a whole.  Catawba hit 6-of-26 from the arc, but shot a strong 43 percent from the field.

Catawba also outrebounded MSU 48-41.

Midwestern was led by Eric Dawson who posted 21 points with seven rebounds and two blocked shots.  Chad Rickett added 10 for the Mustangs, with LaKeith Grant adding six rebounds.

Catawba was paced by Brian Graves with 14 points, with Amad Murphy added 11 and Helgi Magnusson posted 10 with six rebounds.  CC spread out nine blocked shots as well.

Midwestern continues action in the Hoop-N-Surf Classic at Kaiser High School on Wednesday, facing Ouachita Baptist in a 6 p.m. Central time contest (2 p.m.. in Honolulu).