The concordia men's basketball team (11-3, 5-1 nsic) gave the ncaa dii defending national champion and current #1-ranked winona state (14-0, 6-0 nsic) team all they could handle, but came up short in overtime 86-83, thus extending the warriors win streak to 36 games. It was a tough loss for concordia, holding a five point lead with just over a minute and a half to play in front of 3,283 nervous warrior fans on winona state's home court, mccown gymnasium.

winona state showed why they #1 early as they jumped out to a 22-9 lead at 13:12 in the first half. Concordia would cut the lead to 34-30 on a jumper by cortez forte with 2:11 left in the first half, but the warriors would take a 39-32 lead into the break. Forte finished with 10 points, six rebounds and five assists for concordia.

the golden bears showed why they are receiving votes in the nabc poll in the second half. After trailing 46-36 with 16:56 left, the bears went on a 20-5 run to take a 56-51 lead at 10:05 on a layup by chuol chany, who would finish with a career-high 13 points with eight rebounds.

during the run, the bears got four points from seniors drew shepp and kyle marxhausen and two three-pointers by freshman craig heiman.

the game would go back and forth and be tied four times over the last eight minutes, but the bears would hold a 70-65 lead until 1:34 remaining when wsu all-american john smith thundered home a dunk on the bears.

winona state would show why they are champions as they would tie the game at 70-70 on a three-pointer by zach malvik with with 59 seconds left.

concordia had a chance to win the game in regulation but joey peel missed a tough layup with 27 seconds left. Winona state got the rebound but turned the ball over as time expired.

in overtime, the warriors took the first lead and the bears were never able to catch winona state despite several opportunities. Trailing 81-76 with 1:18 to play in overtime, the bears got a layup by heiman and a pair of free throws by marxhausen to cut the lead to 81-80.

winona state's malvik made 1-of-2 free throws to give wsu a 82-80 lead with :40 to play and marxhausen was 1-of-2 at the line for the bears to cut the lead to 82-81 with :24 to play, but malvik made two more free throws with 20 seconds to play to give the warriors a 84-81 lead. Malvik finished 11-12 at the line and scored 18 points.

after a concordia timeout, heiman missed a three-pointer with :12 seconds left that could have tied the game. Malvik would make two more free throws to extend the lead to 86-81 with :09 to play. Forte would cut the lead to 86-83 with :04 to play and after wsu freshman david johnson missed a pair of free throws, the bears had one last chance, but marlon walker's three pointer from 35 feet was short at the buzzer.

the golden bears put together a balanced attack as five players scored in double-figures, led by heiman, marxhausen and chany, who finished with 13 points, while walker had 12 and forte 10.

winona state was led by smith with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Jonte flowers had 22 in the win, while malvik's 18 were third on the team.

the difference in the game came at the free throw line as winona state converted 24-34 (70.6%), while the bears shot only 6-11 (54.5%) from the free throw line despite outscoring wsu by 20 in the paint (52-32).

for the game, concordia shot 37-89 (41.6%), but only 3-17 (17.6%) from behind the arc, while the warriors went 28-61 (45.9%) from the field and 6-17 (35.3%) from three point range.

defensively, the golden bears were aggressive, rattling the defending champions in the backcourt as concordia forced 13 steals while wsu managed just four. jason birr led the bears with four steals while marxhausen and joey peel each had three.

the bears outrebounded winona state 50-40 creating a 28 to 7 advantage in second chance points which contributed to their domination in the paint. The bears also took care of the basketball, committing 14 turnovers compared to 18 for the warriors.

concordia falls to 11-3 (5-1 nsic) on the year, while winona state goes to 14-0 (6-0 nsic). The golden bears will be in action on saturday at upper iowa in nsic play while the warriors host msu moorhead.

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