AUSTIN, Texas - For nearly the entire first half, St. Edward's (Texas) put the clamps on All-Lone Star Conference performer Craig Green.

But once the senior guard banged a trey from the baseline for his first basket with 6 seconds left in the opening half, it was on.

Green poured in 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to lift Midwestern State to a 76-61 win over the Hilltoppers in the finale of the St. Edward's Shootout Monday night at the Recreation and Convocation Center.

"He's struggled in the preseason," MSU coach Grant McCasland said. "It's taken him a bit to find his rhythm on the offensive end, but he really got us going. And the guard did a good job of finding him."

Green hit all but one of his shots from the field including a 2-for-3 effort from beyond the car and went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe in the second half after misfiring on his first four shots of the first half - all 3-pointers.

The effort was enough for him to gain tournament most valuable player honors as the Mustangs peeled off a pair of victories to start the McCasland era.

The teams exchange the lead five times in the first half before Green's 3-pointer pulled the Mustangs within 30-29 at halftime.

Green kept it going to start the second half when he combined with senior forward Rashad Austin for a 10-0 run.

St. Edward's Reggie Shanks hit a layup at the 19:07 mark to give the Hilltoppers a 32-31 advantage which would be SEU's last lead of the contest.

Austin, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, finished a nice feed from Chris Hagan on the next possession to give MSU the lead for good before hitting the back end of a two-shot foul to give the Mustangs a 34-32 lead less than two minutes into the half.

Green would reel of the next seven points as he converted another Hagan feed, knocked down a pair of free throws then canned a pull-up 3-pointer off of a steal to give the Mustangs a 41-32 lead with 16:47 to play.

The Hilltoppers, who fell to 0-2, would get no closer than seven the rest of the way as the Mustangs would lead by as many as 20 when Anthony Moore converted a fast-break layup with 1:27 to play.

"St. Edward's has a great team and shoots extremely well," McCasland said. "I was proud of the way we played. We really matched up in the second half and got after it. It was a good start. I'm proud of our guys, but we've got a long way to go."

Hagan, who was also named to the all-tournament team, finished with eight points, four assists and two steals while Jason Ebie hit a pair of 3-pointers to finish with 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Shanks paced the Hilltoppers with 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting, while Jeff Miner added 17 more.

Midwestern faces St. Mary's (Texas) in its home opener Wednesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.