ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Led by five players in double-figures and near-perfect 27-of-29 free throw shooting, the Concordia men's basketball team (12-14, 9-13 NSIC) ended St. Cloud State's (19-7, 15-7) hopes of clinching a share of the Northern Sun's regular season title with a 93-89 win at Halenbeck Hall on Saturday afternoon. Senior Peter Olafeso (St. Paul, Minn.) narrowly missed a triple-double with 16 points, a career-high 11 assists along with eight rebounds. BOX SCORE

P.Olafeso was 9-10 at the line and had just two turnovers to go with his 11 assists.

Senior Kenny Olafeso (St. Paul, Minn.) scored a team-high 22 points on 7-13 shooting. Senior Brent Barz (Johnston, Iowa) added 19 points on 8-10 shooting and seven rebounds as Concordia's three seniors went out in style on the road.

The win for the Golden Bears, combined with a loss by Northern State, vaults them up a spot in the final NSIC Standings and in a three-way tie with NSU and Wayne State as the Wildcats produced a 2-0 weekend. By virtue of league tie-breakers, however, the Golden Bears will miss the league tournament as they were swept in the season series by both teams. The final spot in the tournament will go to Wayne State, who holds the point system tie-breaker against Northern State, as the two teams split their head-to-head play.

The Golden Bears finish the season with wins in three of their last four games. They've also defeated St. Cloud State two times in a row at Halenbeck Hall, where they are just 2-8 in 10 total meetings, and have also beat the Huskies three of the last four games head-to-head.

Meanwhile, St. Cloud State is expected to drop to the third seed in the tournament and will most likely host Winona State on Wednesday night in a key first round matchup.

Tonight's game featured six ties and five lead changes in the first six minutes until Concordia took the lead for good. The Golden Bears led by as many as 11 points in the first half but were unable to put the Huskies away.

St. Cloud State rallied back to pull the game within one possession on multiple occasions in the second half. At just under the nine minute mark, the Huskies had three chances to tie or go-ahead with Concordia leading 60-58 but they missed a pair of jumpers and committed a turnover with a three-pointer by junior Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) putting Concordia ahead by five with 6:36 to play.

Leading by two again with just under three and a half minutes to play, Concordia sophomore Taylor Steinbauer (Owatonna, Minn.) pulled down an offensive rebound with Thomas delivering another three-pointer shortly thereafter to once again put Concordia up by five, now with under three minutes to play.

Thomas scored 10 points for Concordia, perhaps none bigger than the two second half three-pointers.

Freshman Terez Van Pelt (Osseo, Minn.) ripped SCSU guard Brett Putz for a steal and Steinbauer converted a layup later in the possession as Concordia began to pull away in the closing minutes. Van Pelt finished with 16 points and was perfect in eight attempts at the line.

Concordia would ice the game at the stripe, making 19 out of 20 free throws in the last 1:51 of play to go out on a winning note.

The free throw shooting - Concordia shot 93.1% - was key for the Golden Bears who were last in the league in free throw shooting a year ago. This year, they finish 75.2% at the foul line, a 12.0% improvement.

Just like in the first contest between the two clubs, an SCSU victory at Gangelhoff Center in mid-December, the Huskies were led by the inside-outside combination of center Tim Bergstraeser and point guard Shaun Jensen. Bergstraeser had 21 points and 10 rebounds while Jensen had a game-high 24 points with six assists and two turnovers.

But it was the rest of the squad that needed to step up, as the balance of the team shot just 18-40 compared to the duo's 20-34 shooting.

For more information on the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament, please visit www.northernsun.org where the official brackets and game times will be announced later this evening. All information in this release is unofficial until the NSIC's release.