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ST. PAUL, Minn. - Tonight the Concordia-St. Paul basketball teams host nationally-ranked Minnesota State in a women's/men's NSIC doubleheader at Gangelhoff Center. The women tip at 6 p.m., with the men immediately following at 8 p.m. Earlier this season, MSU swept Concordia in Mankato.
The women's game features two of the premier post players in the Northern Sun with Concordia sophomore
Anika Whiting (Ashland, Wis.) leading the league in scoring (19.1) with MSU's Ali Wilkinson (18.8) in third. In the first meeting this year, MSU won 85-66 behind 22 points and seven rebounds from Wilkinson, making 8-of-12 from the floor. Whiting was solid as well, scoring 19 on 7-of-10 shooting. Whiting was Concordia's only player in double-figures while MSU had four players reach double-digits.
Minnesota State is now ranked 20th in the country at 11-2 overall, 7-2 in conference play. Concordia has been hot since the teams last met and is now 8-5 overall and just a game behind MSU in the standings at 6-3.
On the men's side, the Mavericks continue to climb the national rankings, now ranked eighth. They were not ranked back on December 1st when MSU defeated Concordia 76-71. MSU is now 12-1 on the year and 8-1 in the Northern Sun with its lone loss being at home to Upper Iowa by one point (60-61). They are led by three players averaging at least 12.5 points: Zach Monaghan (13.5), Jarvis Williams (13.2) and Assem Marei (12.5).
In the first meeting, MSU never led by more than eight and Concordia held a six point lead in the first half and the game featured seven ties with the last time being 63-63 with 4:08 to play. Concordia freshman
Shea Mandli (Eagan, Minn.) finished a layup with 1:12 to play on a put-back in the lane to bring the Golden Bears within a point, 72-71. Trailing by three, 74-71 with under a minute to play, the Golden Bears had a missed shot with 50 seconds and a turnover with four seconds on two separate possessions.
The Golden Bears had four players in double-digits in the game led by sophomore guards
Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.) and
Cole Olstad (Elgin, Minn.) with 18 each, while Mandli was 7-of-7 from the floor for 14 points and
Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) added 11. MSU was led by 23 points and eight assists (one turnover) from Monaghan, while Connor O'Brien added 16 points and seven rebounds.
Like the women's matchup featuring two of the top post players in the league, the men's game features two of the top guards in the conference. Concordia's VanPelt is third in the league in scoring (19.2) and assists (4.1) while MSU's Monaghan is second in assists (5.3) and 15th in scoring (13.5) and leads the league in steals (2.5) and assist-turnover ratio (2.8).
