The golden bears broke a 34-34 halftime tie by shutting down minnesota-crookston (4-22, 1-12 nsic) to just 26.1% (6-23) second half shooting as concordia university (16-10, 5-8 nsic) defeated the golden eagles 74-60 on saturday afternoon in crookston, minn. The bears nearly doubled umc's second half field goal percentage as they hit 50.0% (12-24) of their shots in the final 20 minutes.

the golden bears, who outshot the golden eagles 49.1% (27-55) to 39.1% (18-46) for the game, improve to 13-1 when outshooting their opponent and 10-0 when holding opponents to less than 40.0% from the field. They also improved to 13-1 when winning the rebounding battle as they dominated the glass to the tune of a 37-24 deficit.

it was the second-straight balanced scoring effort for concordia, who eclipsed 70 points for the first time since their 92-77 road loss to winona state back on feb. 4. Only two players reached double-figures for concordia, led by senior forward ty thomas' 13 points and junior guard kyle marxhausen's 10 points. Thomas also pulled down nine rebounds and had four assists while marxhausen collected four rebounds and had three steals off the bench.

three other golden bears scored nine points each, junior forward marlon walker, sophomore guard james metcalf and senior point guard rj allen. Sophomore guard jason birr and senior center aaron ackerson each added seven points and seven rebounds off the bench for the bears, as well.

besides winning the rebounding battle, the bears also crushed the golden eagles in the paint, outscoring them 42-14. The cu bench also dominated with a 35-6 margin as the umc bench only converted one field goal attempt and only two umc players scored off the bench.

the victory for concordia is their third straight and puts them in a three-way tie for fifth place in the nsic standings along with msu moorhead and sw minnesota state, who square off this evening at 8 p.m. In moorhead, minn. The trio is one game behind wayne state, who sits at 6-7 but plays on the road at northern state in aberdeen, s.d. This evening.

the four teams are currently battling for the four through seven seeds in the upcoming nsic red baron men's basketball classic. The team who ends up with the fourth seed will play host to a first round game on wednesday, mar. 1.

official brackets will be released by the nsic on sunday, feb. 26 at the conclusion of the two games that are slated for 4 p.m. Starts. The bears square off at bemidji state while minnesota-crookston hosts winona state.