The golden bears went without a point for nearly five and a half minutes of play in the second half, and scored just four points in a span of almost 10 minutes as #6 northern state university (22-2, 12-2 nsic) came back to defeat concordia university (13-10, 7-7 nsic) on saturday evening at the gangelhoff center on think pink night.

concordia was led by two senior guards with a pair of double-doubles: james metcalf with 13 points and 13 rebounds, and jason birr with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Metcalf had seven of his rebounds on the offensive end, leading the way for a team effort that produced 21 offensive rebounds and a 47-30 edge for the golden bears on the glass.

a jumper by freshman center drew votis (peshtigo, wis.) gave concordia a 41-35 lead with 12:02 to play in the contest.

that lead disappeared slowly as the wolves started to convert from long range, finally reclaiming the lead with 8:44 to play when kevin ratzsch's three-pointer made it 43-41 northern.

northern state hadn't led since it was 7-6 with 17:52 to play in the first half.

just over two minutes later senior guard james metcalf (killeen, texas) finally converted a lay-up to knot the score back up at 43.

but the wolves would score the next four points and concordia was unable to cut the gap closer than two the rest of the way as nsu was solid at the free throw line, hitting 87.0% (20-23) for the game.

with the wolves leading 7-6 with just under 18 minutes to play in the first half, the golden bears took over, scoring the next 10 points that started with six straight by sophomore guard mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) to give cu a 16-7 lead at the 12:20 mark.

they extended the lead to 21-9 after cunningham converted a three-point play at the 11:39 mark.

cunningham finished with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal.

they led by as much as 13, 28-15, after a three-pointer by freshman matt hackl (seymour, wis.) followed a three-pointer by metcalf.

northern state narrowed the margin to seven, 30-23, going into halftime.

the golden bears held nsu to 28.6% (8-28) shooting in the opening frame, holding the wolves without a three-pointer in five attempts.

concordia was unable to force nsu errors, however, as the wolves committed only five turnovers in the game.

aside from metcalf, cunningham and birr, concordia was just 6-30 from the field. Their leading scorer, craig heiman (so, f, marshall, wis.), was just 2-15 from the floor and 0-6 from three-point territory, although he fought his way to eight rebounds, four on the offensive end.

northern state was led by craig nelson with 15 points - all in the second half. Kevin ratzsch finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds and levi hamilton had 13.

concordia continues to jostle for position in the northern sun next weekend when they take on #3 winona state on friday and upper iowa on saturday on the road.

box score - northern state 60, cu 52