ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (3-2, 0-1 NSIC) dropped its NSIC opener 81-64 to #11 Minnesota State (7-1, 1-0 NSIC) on Saturday evening at Gangelhoff Center. MSU outscored Concordia 40-18 in the paint and held a 40-28 rebounding margin.

Junior Terez VanPelt led Concordia with 20 points including 10-of-10 free throw shooting while junior Cole Olstad had 11 points, five rebounds and five assists. Two players reached double-figures on Concordia's bench, junior Travon Mitchell with 12 points and sophomore Mike Yahnke with 11.

The Mavericks were led by forwards Assem Marei and Connor O'Brien who combined to shoot 19-24 from the floor for 42 points and 15 rebounds. Marei was unstoppable with 24 points and nine rebounds on 11-of-12 shooting while O'Brien had 18 points, six rebounds, five blocks and three assists.

The Golden Bears started the game cold, hitting 1-of-12 from the floor while MSU was perfect in its first five field goal attempts to build a 15-5 lead six and a half minutes into play.

The trend continued although the margin remained the same as Concordia was just 4-of-22 shooting to MSU's 9-of-16 for a 25-15 lead with 7:13 to play in the half.

The early shooting woes proved too much to climb out of for Concordia, who never led or tied the game.

The margin remained within reach, however, as the Golden Bears were able to get things going offensively, narrowing the margin to four two times down the stretch run of the first half although MSU went into the break leading by seven, 33-26.

Yahnke got things going for Concordia, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting off the bench in the first half after Olstad opened up with Concordia's first five points as the rest of the team struggled to knock down shots. The Golden Bears shot 28.1% (9-32) in the first half including 2-of-14 (14.3%) from three-point range.

Concordia kept the game close in the second half as the margin stayed in single digits for the first 11-plus minutes. A three-pointer by Mitchell with 13:07 to play brought Concordia within three, 46-43 and was followed by a defensive stop.

With the ball and a theoretical chance to tie, Mitchell pulled up from just inside the arc at the top of the key, just misfiring. The long rebound went to his defender, Tanner Adler as Mitchell hit the floor hard. The Mavericks drew a foul on the other end, converted the free throws which opened up a 19-4 run to give MSU a 65-47 lead with just over five minutes to play.

The lead remained in double-digits the rest of the way as the Mavericks increased their win streak to six games.

While MSU had a 40-18 margin for the night in the paint, it was even more pronounced in the second half at 28-8. The Mavericks used 61.5% shooting (16-26) in the second half to pull away from Concordia despite the Golden Bears improving their second half shooting to 35.7% (10-28).

For the night, MSU shot 55.1% (27-49) while Concordia finished 31.7% (19-60) despite getting a high number of open looks.

The Concordia offense was efficient outside of the shooting percentage, committing only five turnovers and assisting on 13 out of 19 field goals.

The Golden Bears continue the early season homestand by hosting Winona State and Upper Iowa next Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.