WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Midwestern State never trailed against the University of the Southwest Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

But MSU had to fight for the full 40 minutes for an 90-89 win over the first-year NAIA program.

The Mustangs used a 9-3 run fueled by Brookhaven (Texas) Community College transfers Craig Green and Anthony Moore to take their largest lead of the night with 4:50 remaining.

Moore, who finished with nine points and four rebounds, put back a missed Trajinski Grigsby 3-pointer to start the run before Green sandwiched a pair of free throws and a 15-footer in transition around a 3-pointer by Cesar Cuevas for USW.

After Moore converted a traditional three-point play, the Mustangs led 84-74 with 4:37 to play.

That would be MSU's last field goal.

Southwest junior Chris Cooper, who finished with 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, hit his third trey of the contest before canning a jumper with 3:35 to go to cut the Midwestern advantage to 84-79.

The Mustangs went 6-for-10 from the free-throw line the rest of the way as USW turned to Cuevas down the stretch.

And the sophomore point guard responded by scoring seven of his 20 second-half points in the in the final 98 seconds.

Cuevas tipped in his own missed runner to pull USW within 86-81 with 1:38 remaining.

Midwestern's Nolan Richardson then hit three of four free throws  to push the Mustangs' advantage to 89-82 with 25 seconds left before Cuevas found an open Jordan Manney in the corner to pull USW within four.

Cuevas then hit one of two free throws to pull Southwest within a possession at 89-86 with 6 seconds to play  after Grigsby misfired on a pair of free throws.

Senior Quincy Sarpy hit the back end of a double bonus to push the MSU advantage to 90-86 before Cuevas canned a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Green paced the Mustangs with 22 points with a solid all-around game of eight rebounds, five assists and four steals in 33 minutes.

Grigsby missed his second-straight double-double as the senior forward had 19 points and nine rebounds, while Richardson finished with 14 points and five assists.

Cuevas had a game-high 27 points and nine assists to pace Southwest.

Midwestern State returns to action Saturday night at D.L. Coliseum when it plays host to Wayland Baptist. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.