The third time was the charm for the visitors from wayne state (16-12) as they built a 25 point lead in the second half and held off a concordia (16-12) rally to beat the golden bears 75-72 in the first round of the nsic tournament at the gangelhoff center on saturday night.

the golden bears had defeated wayne state twice this season (83-58 on jan. 18 in wayne) and again just last saturday 77-69 on feb. 23 in st. Paul.

the wildcats scored the first six points of the game and cruised to a 38-19 halftime lead scoring 14 points off of 11 concordia turnovers and dominating in the paint with 20 points.

wayne state shot 59.3% (16-27) in the first half, while the golden bears converted just 23.3% (7-30) and only 1-11 (9.1%) from beyond the arc.

the wildcats extended their halftime lead to 25 at 46-21 with 18:46 to play. Over the next 16 minutes, the golden bears outscored wayne state 35-11 to cut the lead to 57-56 with 2:12 to play.

with wayne state leading 61-58 with :08 left craig heiman (so., marshall, wi) hit the front end of two free throws. After missing the second, the rebound went off a pair of wsc defenders, giving the golden bears the ball.

after a timeout, mike cunningham (so., minneapolis, mn) drove the lane to hit a layup with :02 to time the game at 61-61. It was the only tie of the game.

concordia forced wayne state into 11 second half turnovers themselves and turn that into 13 points. While the golden bears took better care of the ball, committing only four turnovers in the second half and overtime.

wayne state controlled the overtime jumping out to a 73-65 lead with 1:00 to play, but the golden bears fought back and had a chance to tie the game as junior matt cadwell's (st. Paul, mn) three pointer at the end was just long.

it was cadwell's first game back after missing the last seven games because of injuries.

senior james metcalf (killeen, tx) led the team in points and rebounds as he recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 20 points and 12 rebounds, with ten rebounds coming on the offensive end. He added three assists and two steals.

on the season, metcalf averaged 11.2 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game.

heiman scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half and finishes the season with 505 points, good for the third highest scoring season in concordia history. (brian jamros holds the top two seasons with 529 in 2004 and 511 in 2005)

cunningham would finish the night with 14 points, on 5-9 from the field, 2-4 from beyond the arc and 2-2 from the free throw line.

the golden bears outrebounded wayne state 4-38 for the game.

concordia finishes with a 16-12 overall record and 10-8 in the nsic. It is the fourth straight winning season for the golden bears.

seniors james metcalf, jason birr and chuol chany all complete their careers at concordia.

box score - wayne state 75, cu 72 (ot)