Five players scored in double-figures to help concordia university (11-9, 5-6 nsic) erase an eight point halftime deficit to defeat bemidji state (5-16, 2-10 nsic) 68-62 at bsu gymnasium on friday evening.

concordia fell behind by as many as nine, 35-26 with under two minutes to play in the first half before heading into the break still trailing by eight.

first half shooting woes doomed concordia as they hit just 34.4% (11-32) from the field while bsu shot 51.6% (16-31) to build their early lead. The golden bears also converted just one of eight from downtown while the bears were four of seven.

sophomore forward craig heiman (marshall, wis.) scored 12 of his 13 points in the first half on 4-8 shooting while muscling his way to four offensive rebounds (five total) playing all 20 minutes.

he finished the game 4-10 from the floor with seven rebounds while dishing out three assists (all in the second half).

but fortunes reversed in the second half as cu was lights-out, shooting 55.2% (16-29) while committing only four turnovers and forcing 12 leading to a 19-4 advantage in points off turnovers in the second half alone.

concordia's defense also forced bsu to only 18 field goal attempts in the second half.

that strong defense helped the golden bears hold onto their win despite going without a field goal in the last 3:45 of the game, only scoring three points in five attempts at the free throw line down the stretch.

the golden bears started the second half on a 9-0 run to take a one point lead not even three minutes in.

the teams battled back and forth for the next seven minutes until concordia broke a 46-46 tie with under 11 minutes to play with a 6-0 run that lasted almost two minutes.

the lead was pushed to ten on three occasions between the 6:23 and 4:28 marks and would prove to be enough to fend off the beavers for the road victory.

senior guard james metcalf (killeen, texas) produced another double-double with ten points and 12 rebounds while sophomore guard mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) led the team with 15 points and five assists.

chuol chany (sr., c, des moines, iowa) and matt cadwell (jr., g, st. Paul, minn.) were steal-happy, with chany swiping six off the bench and cadwell adding five. Chany scored 11 points and also had three blocks in 27 minutes while cadwell poured in 14 points.

aside from the five players to reach double-digit scoring, freshman matt hackl (seymour, wis.) was the only other golden bear to score, adding five points - all in the second half, in the win.

bemidji state was led by alex smith with a game-high 19 points while two others scored in double-figures and freshman brady fairbanks led the beavers with eight rebounds.

concordia finished with a 34-28 rebounding advantage including 14-5 on the offensive glass leading to a 17-9 edge in second chance points. They also outscored the beavers 26-8 off turnovers for the game.

concordia looks to climb back to the .500 mark in the nsic tomorrow evening when they travel to take on minnesota, crookston at 8 p.m.

box score - cu 68, bemidji state 62