PHOTO GALLERY (courtesy Jarrin Williams)

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (2-12, 0-10) was unable to pick up its first league win Tuesday night, dropping an 86-70 decision to eighth-ranked Minnesota State University (13-1, 9-1) at Gangelhoff Center. Sophomore Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.) scored 22 points with five assists in the loss for Concordia.

The Golden Bears got out to a fast start, making eight of their first nine shots from the floor in the first 8:33 of play, and held a 19-12 lead at the 10:22 mark of the first half.

But the shooting went cold for Concordia, going 0-for-6 from the floor as the Mavericks mounted a 20-2 run to build a 32-21 lead.

Senior Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) made the Golden Bears' first shot in nearly seven minutes to snap the drought, a three-pointer that would be his only three of the night as he finished with five points.

The Mavericks carried a 41-32 lead into the break as the Golden Bears shot 11-of-25 (44.0%) from the floor in the half after the strong 8-for-9 start.

In the second half, a fastbreak jumper by sophomore Cole Olstad (Elgin, Minn.) set up by VanPelt cut the deficit to seven, and a few possessions later the Golden Bears had it back to seven again with a pair of VanPelt free throws. That was as close as they'd come the rest of the night, though, as they never had a possession with a chance to cut into the lead further.

Olstad finished with 10 points, adding three rebounds, three steals and two assists. VanPelt was 8-of-14 from the floor and scored 16 of his points in the second half and was 6-of-6 at the line on the night.

Minnesota State would extend its lead in the second half to as many as 18 on two different occasions, although Concordia did cut the deficit back to 12.

Concordia's bench was led by senior Nick Mabbutt (Milton Keynes, UK) iwth 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting. The Golden Bears were led on the glass by redshirt freshman Mike Yahnke's (Delano, Minn.) career-high nine rebounds, adding six points in the game.

Minnesota State was led by Assem Marei with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the post while four others scored between 10 and 13 points.

The Mavericks out-rebounded Concordia 41-29 in the game, adding a 15-7 edge in second chance scoring and 48-34 in the paint. MSU was also more effective on the perimeter, hitting 7-of-12 (58.3%) from three, while Concordia was just  2-of-11 (18.2%).

Concordia hits the road this weekend and will face NSIC North Division opposition. On Friday, the Golden Bears are at Minnesota Duluth before traveling to St. Cloud State on Saturday.