ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team dropped its season opener 79-70 on Saturday afternoon at Gangelhoff Center to Clarke University (Iowa). Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn. ) scored 22 points and Cole Olstad (Elgin, Minn.) added 21 for the Golden Bears.

Concordia led early, expanding their first half lead to as much as eight points, 20-12 nearly eight minutes into play with after Olstad scored four-straight points.

Clarke rallied from there, however, going on a 20-5 run over the next seven minutes and would hold onto the lead into the locker room, 38-37.

A three by Olstad at the 13:15 mark of the second half put Concordia back ahead, 51-50 adn the game remained close for the next four minutes.

With Concordia leading 59-58 with just over nine minutes to play, Clarke scored seven straight points over a two minute stretch. Olstad knocked down another three for Concordia and the Golden Bear defense came up with a stop to give the offense a chance to either tie or come within a point of the Crusaders. But Olstad's jumper misfired with 5:40 to play.

Clarke answered with a three on the other end and their lead would never be a one possession game the rest of the way.

Kris Brooks led Clarke with 20 points and nine rebounds including five on the offensive glass while shooting 9-of-11 from the field. Luke Cassedy and Franz Winkler each made three three-pointers. The Crusaders had four players in double-figures for the game.

Concordia had a pair of players with nine points each, Isaiah Thomas and Nick Mabbutt, to supplement VanPelt and Olstad's 20-plus games.

The Golden Bears shot just 37.8% (28-74) for the game while Clarke shot 49.1% (27-55). Each team made six three-pointers but Clarke was nearly perfect at the stripe, making 19-of-20 while Concordia was solid but only went to the line half as many times (8-10).

The game featured four ties and 13 lead changes with neither team leading by more than the final margin of nine points.

Concordia returns to the floor on Friday, November 23 with a tip-off at 9:30 p.m. central time at sixth-ranked Western Washington. They'll play two games on the west coast, adding a Saturday game against Alaska-Fairbanks at 5 p.m. (central).