SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Sophomore guard Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.) led the Golden Bears with 19 points but his 15-foot pull-up jumper with 2.7 seconds remaining misfired as Augustana (9-2, 5-2 NSIC) was able to hold on for a 67-66 win over Concordia-St. Paul (2-9, 0-7) on Saturday night at Elmen Center.

The Golden Bears have now lost all nine of their games by 10-points or less this season.

VanPelt played all 40 minutes and added four assists. On the year, he's averaging 19.5 points and 4.1 assists, has scored at least 13 points in every game and has 3-plus assists in all but one game.

The game started slow to an extreme for Concordia, falling into an 18-2 deficit in the first six and a half minutes of play and Augustana led by as many as 18 points (34-16) in the half before a VanPelt layup late in the half closed the gap to 13, 41-28.

Trailing by 10 with 13:26 to play in the second half, Concordia made a run to take its first lead by outscoring Augustana 19-4 over a near 6-minute stretch of play. Suddenly Concordia led 60-55 with 7:46 to play as senior Nick Mabbutt (Milton Keynes, UK) scored 10 points including a pair of three-pointers during the run.

Concordia never led by more than five, and only pushed the lead back to five one more time - a 64-59 lead with 5:43 to go.

Augustana regained the lead 65-64 at the 4:20 mark before a pair of free throws by Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) gave Concordia the upper hand with just over four minutes left.

The Golden Bears were unable to score the rest of the way, though, missing three three-pointers and a pair of jumpers including VanPelt's attempted game-winner.

During the final four minutes, the Concordia defense also held Augustana to just two points, a layup by Cameron McCaffrey with 2:47 to play that was the eventual and unlikely game-winner for the hosts.

For the second straight night, Concordia's strong second half defense kept them from fouling which meant the opposition was able to run extra time off the clock. Tonight, the situation came with only 2.7 seconds and allowed Augustana to take a whole second off the clock to prevent a buzzer-beater by Concordia.

Joining VanPelt were three others in double-figures: Mabbutt with 12 off the bench, Cole Olstad with 12 and Thomas with 10. Olstad and Thomas combined to shoot just 7-of-24 from the floor and 3-of-16 from three-point range, though.

As a team, Concordia was a perfect 13-of-13 at the stripe led by VanPelt (6-6).

The Vikings were led by McCaffrey's 17 points although Concordia held the league's second leading scorer to 6-of-13 shooting, but he was able to dish five assists with just one turnover.

Casey Schilling added a career-high 14 points and two others reached double-figures for Augie.

Concordia returns to Gangelhoff Center next weekend, hosting MSU Moorhead and Northern State on Friday and Saturday.