MINNEAPOLIS - Concordia-St. Paul went toe-to-toe with the Minnesota Gophers on Monday night at Williams Arena before the Gophers finished the final 14:27 on a 42-15 run to put the Golden Bears away 101-67.

Concordia trailed by just seven points with under 15 minutes to play in the game before Minnesota used a combination of runs sparked by strong inside scoring and aggressive full court press defense. Minnesota outscored Concordia 18-4 from 14:27 to the 8:16 mark and 22-5 from the 10:15 to 3:55 mark as part of the larger run.

The Golden Bears came out rusty against Minnesota's aggressive style under first year head coach Richard Pitino as the Gophers grabbed early leads of 12-2 (15:48) and 18-9 (12:16).

But Concordia veteran head coach Kelly Boe's squad made the early adjustments to claw back into the contest as junior point guard Terez VanPelt had a put back, a pair of assists and converted three free throws to bring the margin to two points, 24-22 with 8:25 to play. The Concordia run was a 20-12 stretch that spanned 7:28 of action.

Minnesota opened things back up with eight consecutive points to start a 23-6 run that opened up the largest margin of the half, 47-28 with 2:23.

Concordia finished the half strong, though, with Clay Olstad hitting a three-pointer with just over a minute to play in the half. The Golden Bears scored the final nine points of the half, going into the break down by 10, 47-37.

Travon Mitchell led Concordia in the first half with nine points on 2-3 shooting (2-2 from 3FG) while hitting 3-4 at the line. VanPelt had eight points despite 1-7 shooting as he made 6-7 at the line and delivered three assists to just one turnover against the Gopher press. As a team, Concordia shot 35.7% (10-28) from the field, but hit 50.0% (5-10) from distance and 80.0% (12-15) at the line.

The early key for Concordia was getting to the stripe, with a five point advantage in free throws, and from long range with five three's to Minnesota's two.

Minnesota was led in the first half by its post players as Maurice Walker had 10 points and six rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench while starting center Elliott Eliason had eight points in eight minutes.

In the second half, Concordia quickly extended its run to 12-0 as Cole Olstad hit a three-pointer on the opening possession just 14 seconds into play on Shea Mandli's second assisted three-pointer.

Minnesota pushed it back into double-digits before Concordia closed the gap to seven points two more times over the next five-plus minutes. Co.Olstad had 10 points in the first four and a half minutes of the second half and finished with 16 points to lead the team along with VanPelt's 16.

It was his brother, Clay, that closed the margin back to seven points for the final time with a three-pointer at the 14:39 mark, assisted by VanPelt for his sixth (and final) assist of the game. VanPelt had three assists during a three and a half minute stretch at the time.

Minnesota answered on all three possessions that Concordia had closed the margin to seven in the second half, however, and an Andre Hollins three-pointer with 14:27 to play opened things up for Minnesota.

Dre Hollins finished with 16 points while Walker had a game-high 17 points with 13 rebounds to lead the Gophers.

For Concordia, Mitchell wouldn't see any action in the second half due to an apparent first half injury, and his strong first half play was missed down the stretch.

Concordia shot similar in the second half, 34.4% (11-32), but was less efficient from distance at 33.3% (4-12) and especially at the foul line with an uncharacteristic 28.6% (4-14) mark in the final 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, the Gophers shot 61.1% (22-36) in the second half and held a decisive 45-31 edge on the glass and outscored Concordia 60-20 in the paint. Minnesota also held decisive advantages in second chance scoring (27-13) and points off turnovers (20-8).

Concordia closes out exhibition play this Thursday evening at home against St. John's at 7 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.