WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Arkansas-Fort Smith's Brian Halums put on a show Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

The senior transfer from Ole Miss ripped the nets for a game-high 42 points highlighted by a NBA dunk contest worthy windmill on a breakaway late in the second half.

None of that deterred Midwestern State which won back-to-back games for the first time this season by winning the war -- 79-70 -- to improve 6-19 on the season and 6-13 in Lone Star Conference play.

"That was a fun game. It was back and forth from the get go," MSU coach Justin Leslie said. "Brian Halums is one of the best scorers I have ever seen at this level. He's been averaging 40 over his last four. A player like that along with (junior guard Matthew) Wilson carry a big percentage of the points. We knew we weren't going to stop them from shooting, but we had to make their catches a little more difficult. When they were shooting, we had to raise their difficulty. With Halems, we tried to challenge his right hand and it worked on the 3-point line."

Wilson finished with 17 points, but took 18 shots to get there and Midwestern State outscored the Lions 39-28 in the second half. The Mustangs held UAFS to 34.5 shooting from the field in the second half including a 1-of-9 run from beyond the arc.

"We reminded the guys to stay focused on the details of the game plan and to trust the process over a 40-minute game," Leslie said. "That was winning defense in the second half."

Midwestern State received a big time performance of its own. Senior guard D'Monta Harris poured in 34 points on 11-of-20 shooting with seven 3-pointers. It was just two points shy of his career high set earlier this season at Central Oklahoma.

"One of the challenges I have had with D'monta this year is that he likes to shoot, but the problem is he doesn't always take the first available shot," Leslie said. "When someone makes a good pass to you when you are rhythm, your job is to shoot that thing and to shoot it now. He clearly took that message to heart. I know the work he has put in and the talent that he is when he shoots it like that. I was so happy for him. He was simply fantastic. That was a big time performance."

Fellow senior Darius Thompson buried four 3-pointers and went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe to finish with 19 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists.

Sophomore forward Jaylin Brown gave the Mustangs a third double-figure scorer hitting six of his eight shots to finish with 12 points.

The Mustangs took control of the game by reeling of 17 consecutive points to extend the advantage to a game-high 12 points when Harris completed a traditional three-point play for a 57-45 lead with 13:50 to play.

UAFS whittled the lead down to 64-60 after Halums' breakaway dunk with 9:11 to go, but Midwestern answered with an 11-3 spurt to push the lead back to 12 at 75-63 after Brown scored in the paint with 4:50 to play.

Halums' scoring output was the third most by an MSU opponent in a game at D.L. Ligon Coliuseum. Lorenzo Scott of Paul Quinn (Texas) scored 46 points on March 5, 1980 and Prairie Valley A&M's Larry Hagen tallied 43 on March 7, 1979. No other other opponent has scored more than 35 points.

Midwestern State takes on Oklahoma Christian in its regular season home finale Saturday afternoon at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m.