ST. CLOUD, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul made 65% (13-20) from three-point range, but it wasn't enough to overcome St. Cloud State's 94.1% (32-34) free throw shooting. The Huskies held off the Golden Bears 95-90 in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament first round on Wednesday night at Halenbeck Hall.

The NSIC North's top seed, St. Cloud State, survived a first round upset scare from the South Division's eighth seed, Concordia. The game featured 10 ties and six lead changes and Concordia led for the first 16 and a half minutes of the second half.

The 13 three-pointers were the second-most in a game this year for the Golden Bears while the 65% mark was the fourth-highest recorded single-game percentage.

Six different Golden Bears connected from long range, with four players hitting at least two. Senior Isaiah Thomas (Fridley, Minn.) delivered 4-of-5 from behind the arc and finished with 12 points. Thomas finished his career with 195 career three-pointers at a 40.7% career rate, ranking third and fifth all-time, respectively. His 69 three-pointers made during his final year rank as the third-most in a season in school history.

Junior Cordell Smith (Mequon, Wis.) was 3-of-4 from distance and had a 20-point performance with three steals. He was also 6-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-6 at the foul line.

Concordia was led in scoring by sophomore Terez VanPelt (Osseo, Minn.) with 24 points and nine assists while playing 40 minutes. He set the school record for most free throws in a season with 150, and became the fourth player in program history to produce a 500-point season. His 521 points ranks second in school history, just eight points off the record held by Brian Jamros (529, 2003-04). His 19.3 season scoring average sets a new school record and 128 assists ties for fifth in a season.

SCSU was led by Kevin Levandoski's 30 points and eight reobounds - both game-highs. He made five three-pointers and was 9-of-10 at the line. Shaun Jensen added 25 points and eight assists while making 10-of-11 at the line.

Concordia overcame a slow start as the Huskies built an 11-point lead just over 11 minutes into the game (28-17) using an 8-4 run that spanned over five and a half minutes.

The Golden Bears responded with a 14-3 spurt of their own to tie the game back up at 31-31 and after the Huskies opened the lead back up to six it was senior Zach Towle (Maplewood, Minn.) who knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the final 39 seconds of the half to knot the score at 39-39 at the break.

Concordia scored first in the second half on a bucket from Mike Yahnke (Delano, Minn.), who finished 4-for-4 with 9 points as Concordia took control. The Huskies would tie the score once a minute later, but Concordia led until the 3:18 mark when SCSU scored 5-straight to reclaim its first lead since the first half, 84-83.

The Golden Bears were never able to put distance between them and the Huskies, with the largest lead being just six points.

In the final three and a half minutes of play, the lead changed hands three times with one tie. The Huskies made 7-of-8 at the stripe in the closing minutes to put the game away.

While the free throw disparity proved to play a key factor in the final score, so did second chance points. SCSU held a 14-2 scoring margin on second chances with a 9-2 edge on the offensive glass.

The game's final tally showed 10 ties and six lead changes.

NOTE: While Terez VanPelt became the fourth player to score 500 points in program history, it was the fifth 500-plus point season as Brian Jamros had two seasons with 500-plus points.