ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul's (9-16, 7-14 NSIC) league-high five game winning streak came to a close on Friday night in a 71-69 loss to Southwest Minnesota State (16-12, 13-8) at Gangelhoff Center. Concordia had a desperation full court pass with 0.8 to play, but the pass was tipped by SMSU near the basket.

Concordia entered play as the second ranked free throw shooting team in the country at 78.8% but converted only 11-of-19 (.579) on the night including a pair of misses with just under three minutes to play with the Golden Bears trailing 67-66 at the time.

The Golden Bears trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half with just over 17 minutes to play (52-38). They fought back to tie the game at 62-62 with just over seven minutes to go on a layup by Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.). He finished with 21 points in the game with 15 coming in the second half.

Concordia had a chance to go ahead on the next two possessions, misfiring on a pair of three-pointers with the score tied and trailing by two, respectively. They also had the chance to go ahead when trailing 67-66 with just under three minutes, but didn't have another shot at the lead until there was 0.8 seconds and the ball on the opposite end of the floor.

Concordia came out strong against SMSU, scoring the game's first six points and maintaining the six point margin eight and a half minutes into the game thanks to a 7-of-11 start from the floor primarily against a Mustang full court press.

The Mustangs began to switch the defensive look up, seemingly every possession, utilizing a zone as well as an aggressive pressure defense geared at shutting down VanPelt. The strategy stifled Concordia's strong offensive start, scoring just two points over the next seven minutes.

But the offensive drought was accompanied by a defensive effort that kept the game close, with the Mustangs only able to grab a 3-point lead.

But in the closing minutes of the half, SMSU opened the gap to an 11-point edge, 38-27 with just under a minute to go before Cordell Smith's (Mequon, Wis.) three-point play trimmed the Mustang lead to eight at the break (38-30).

Smith finished a point shy of his second double-double with nine points and tying his career-high with 10 rebounds. He's led the Golden Bears in rebounding in all eight of his starts down the stretch.

Senior forward Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) added 15 points including three three-pointers. Concordia's offense had six players score at least seven points on the night.

Senior Nick Mabbutt (Milton Keynes, UK) and sophomore DJ Lewis (New Orleans) provided solid contributions off the bench, with Mabbutt adding eight points and five rebounds with three assists, and Lewis scoring seven points with three assists and no turnovers.

SMSU was led by big man Nick Smith with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting, also collecting seven rebounds and dishing four assists. Matt Zager added 16 points while two others had 13 for the Mustangs.

The Golden Bears will play Sioux Falls tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in a battle for the seventh seed.