ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-12, 1-10 NSIC) picked up its first Northern Sun win Friday night 76-73 over Minnesota Duluth (4-11, 2-9) in overtime at Romano Gym. The Golden Bears made 22-of-23 at the foul line, making their first 21 attempts.

It wasn't until 18 seconds to play in overtime when the Golden Bears finally misfired at the stripe, as sophomore Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.) missed the first but made the second to extend Concordia's lead.

Minnesota Duluth's Jake Hottenstine missed a well defended three-pointer on the wing a few feet behind the arc with two seconds to play.

VanPelt finished with 18 points and seven assists. He was 9-of-10 at the foul line. His seventh assist was off a penetration kick-off to senior Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) who delivered a three-pointer on the wing to give the Golden Bears a 75-71 lead with 1:14 to play.

Thomas snapped out of a shooting slump by scoring 16 points with six rebounds on 7-of-14 shooting and 2-of-5 three-point shooting.

The Bulldogs barely missed any free throws, too, making 15-of-18 including 13-of-16 by the game's leading scorer, Brett Ervin. He finished with 27 points, six assists and five rebounds but was just 7-of-17 from the field.

In regulation, Concordia held a 65-62 lead after VanPelt finished a layup with 1:43 to play. UMD responded with a three-pointer on its next possession and a missed VanPelt jumper with 59 seconds to play gave UMD the ball back with a tie score.

The Bulldogs' Hottenstine hit a go-ahead layup with 33 seconds to play.

Concordia tied the score with 17 seconds to play when VanPelt drove the lane and dished to senior Nick Mabbutt (Milton Keynes, UK) for an easy lay-in. Mabbutt finished with 13 points including 9-of-9 foul shooting off the bench. He contributed six rebounds, had three blocks and two assists.

UMD turned to its scoring leader, Ervin, who missed at the buzzer to send it to overtime.

The game featured six ties and seven lead changes but it was Concordia that held the upper hand for nearly the entire night. All three lead changes occurred early in the game.

UMD never led by more than the three-point lead it opened the game with, and its only other lead of the first half was a 5-4 a few possessions later.

Meanwhile the Golden Bears led by as many as seven on multiple occasions in the first and led by six (35-29) at the break with VanPelt hitting a three-pointer before the buzzer.

UMD would come back and tie the game at 43 at the 12:38 mark of the second half, the game's first tie.

Sophomore Cole Olstad (Elgin, Minn.) broke the tie with a three-pointer and converted a free throw for a rare 4-point play. Olstad finished with 14 points and four rebounds on 5-of-9 shooting. He made 3-of-4 from three-point range.

That was the start of, and half of an eight-point spurt that gave Concordia the game's largest lead, 51-43, with 10:22 to play.

Concordia would reach the eight-point lead once more, 53-45 with 8:38 to play on a jumper by Thomas.

UMD would quickly get back in the game, forcing the second tie of the night at 55-55 with 5:09 left.

The game remained close from there, with four ties in the last five-plus minutes with the largest lead being three points.

A three-point play by Ervin with 3:42 to go capped an 11-2 run by the Bulldogs that put them ahead 60-57 to match their largest lead.

Concordia tied the game back up a few possessions later when freshman Shea Mandli (Eagan, Minn.) wrapped a slick pass around a pair of Bulldog defenders in the lane to an open Mabbutt who was fouled just before he could lay it in.

Mabbutt made both free throws to tie the game, and VanPelt would hit a pair of free throws on Concordia's next possession after a stop to reclaim a 63-61 lead with 2:21 to play.

VanPelt's layup with 1:43 left put Concordia ahead by three, 65-62 but UMD's Calahan Skogman tied the score on the next possession just 21 seconds later.

In the final 1:22, the teams traded buckets to go to overtime.

In overtime, Concordia scored first nearly a minute and a half into the period on a Mandli jumper-and-one and the Golden Bears never relinquished the lead. In fact, UMD didn't take a go-ahead shot again, missing two game-tying shots, the first a missed layup with 2:22 to play, and the second being the game's final shot by Hottenstine from three-point range.

For the game, the teams shot nearly the same from the floor with Concordia edging UMD 48.0% to 47.4% and the Golden Bears were better from distance hitting 6-of-14 (.429) to UMD's 4-of-11 (.364).

Concordia also won the glass, 32-27 and held a 5-1 block advantage led by Mabbutt's three.

Concordia is now 9-13 all-time against UMD and 5-7 at Romano Gym. The Golden Bears have won five of the last six games in the series. Concordia is also 9-4 against UMD since January, 2004.

Concordia remains on the road tomorrow with a 6 p.m. tip at St. Cloud State (8-3). The Huskies are in a three-team tie for the NSIC North Division lead with MSU Moorhead and Northern State. The Huskies were defeated 75-81 tonight by #8 Minnesota State.

The Golden Bears are 5-14 against SCSU all-time and are 2-8 at Halenbeck Hall, but have won their last two trips to the arena. Concordia is also 3-1 against SCSU in the last two seasons.