Concordia university (10-9, 4-6 nsic) fell 78-73 to msu moorhead (12-7, 5-5 nsic) in a pivotal northern sun match-up on saturday evening at alex nemzek hall in moorhead, minn. Sophomore forward craig heiman lit the dragons up for 26 points including 5-9 from behind the arc along with eight rebounds.

heiman hit four three-pointers in the first 5:04 of the game while his fifth three-pointer went through the net with 00:07 in the second half to cut what was once a 14 point dragon lead to just one possession, 76-73.

but msu moorhead hit 6-7 from the line in the final 00:40 of the game to hang on for the victory. The dragons were just 12-17 from the line on the night, but converted when it counted the most down the stretch.

junior guard matt cadwell (st. Paul, minn.) hit three three-pointers in the second half in a five minute span to help bring concordia back from the 14 point deficit with 8:13 to play. He scored 13 of his 17 in the second half.

three-pointers by senior guard james metcalf (killeen, texas) and heiman in the opening minute started the golden bears out with a 6-0 lead that was extend to 9-2 when heiman drained another three-pointer.

that was concordia's largest lead of the game.

msu moorhead came within a point, 11-10 when ryan rozell buried a three for the dragons.

heiman delivered his third three-pointer of the game moments later and hit his fourth from long range moments after that to give concordia a 17-12 lead with 14:54 left in the first half.

a pair of free throws by sophomore guard mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) put concordia back on top by seven, 19-12 at the 14:02 mark.

msu moorhead finally tied the score at 25 with 8:42 to play on an andy thompson lay-up. Blake strouth converted after a missed three-pointer by cadwell gave the ball back to the dragons as they claimed their first lead in the game, 27-25 with 7:55 to play.

they extended their lead to six, 33-27 before the golden bears went on a mini-run to tie the score at 33 with 5:14 until the break.

but the dragons would not relinquish their lead as they went into the break ahead 44-38 despite 18 first half points from heiman.

concordia never led again in the game while msu moorhead led by as much as 14 points, 62-48, with 8:13 to play in the game.

but trailing by 14 points, cadwell took matters into his own hands, hitting back-to-back three's along with a jumper to go on a single-handed 8-0 scoring run to get the golden bears back within six, 62-56 in a span of nearly three minutes of play.

cadwell scored 13 second half points and finished with 17 while heiman scored eight after the break but grabbed seven of his eight rebounds to help keep concordia physical inside.

cadwell hit his third three-pointer of the half with just over two minutes to play to put concordia within five points, 69-64 but strouth answered with a three on the other end for the dragons.

two free throws by cadwell and a cunningham jump shot brought concordia to within four with 00:40 left and heiman's lay-up after a pair of andy thompson free throws for the dragons kept the deficit at four with 00:33.

strouth made another set of free throws for msum before heiman hit his fifth three-pointer of the game with under ten seconds to play to get the score to a one possession game.

but thompson closed out the golden bears with two more free throws.

metcalf and senior guard jason birr (burnsville, minn.) each scored 10 points for concordia as well. Metcalf was 3-6 from the floor while birr finished 5-6.

concordia shot a respectable 45.5% (25-55) from the floor, 37.5% (9-24) from behind the arc and 70.0% (14-20) at the line but were not able to slow down the dragon shooters, who converted at a 50.9% (28-55) clip from the field and 50.0% (10-20) from three-point territory.

grant fossum led msu moorhead with 18 points on 7-9 shooting while strouth contributed 15 points. Both players came off the bench and led a dragon bench that outscored concordia 38-10 - all ten points coming from birr.

jamal o'neal added nine points and 11 rebounds for the dragons.

concordia returns to action next weekend when they stay on the road to face bemidji state and minnesota, crookston in nsic play.

box score - msu moorhead 78, cu 73