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ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball (1-7) team looks to end the 2012 calendar year on a positive note when it hosts the Waldorf College (4-6) Warriors in non-conference play this Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.
Concordia looks to snap a five-game losing streak, and all seven losses this season have been by 10 points or less.
Waldorf and Concordia have met once before, a 78-68 Concordia win last season at Gangelhoff Center. In that game,
Kenny Olafeso had 19 points and eight rebounds,
Peter Olafeso had 18 points and nine rebounds and
Brent Barz had a career-high 15 rebounds while adding seven points, four steals and three blocks.
All three of those players were seniors, though, and of the current Golden Bears,
Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.) led the way with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in just his third career game.
Zach Towle (Maplewood, Minn.) knocked down three three-pointers and had 11 points in the game.
Waldorf was led by Brad Johnson's 19 points off the bench, but Concordia held the Warriors to 34.8% shooting and held a 54-41 rebounding advantage including 20 offensive boards. Concordia led by as many as 21 in last year's game.
Waldorf comes into this year's meeting with NSIC familiarity. Second year head coach Nigel Jenkins was an assistant coach at Minnesota State, Mankato prior to taking the reins at Waldorf. One of the top players in his final season at MSU was Cameron Hodges, now one of his assistants.
In addition, Waldorf has played Southwest Minnesota State and University of Sioux Falls in exhibition play. The Warriors lost 88-75 at SMSU on Oct. 24 and more recently lost by three, 67-64, at Sioux Falls on November 20. Concordia had similar results against the same two teams, losing by 10 (86-96) at SMSU and fall by nine at USF (68-77).
Waldorf averages 68.2 points per game on 42.7% shooting including 28.0% from long range while Concordia comes in averaging 71.2 points on 42.0% shooting and 41.0% three-point shooting.
The Warriors are led by Erik Brewer's 12.1 points per game while Jordan Nelson leads the team on the glass with 5.9 rebounds per game.
Concordia is led by VanPelt's 20.1 points and 4.0 assists per game.
Cole Olstad (Elgin, Minn.) (15.4) and
Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) (14.5) provide exceptional scoring options as well. Olstad leads the team on the glass with 6.1 rebounds per game. All three players shoot 44.4% or better from three-point range led by Thomas' 2.8 three's per game.
