ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (4-8, 1-7 NSIC) trailed by eight points with 2:20 to play but wound up with two possessions with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 64 seconds. But in the end, St. Cloud State (9-3, 5-3 NSIC) held off Concordia 70-66 on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.



Concordia was down 68-60 with 2:20 to play when the rally started. Junior Terez VanPelt answered quickly on the other end with a layup, set-up by a nice feed from junior Keith Crockett.

Crockett had a big night with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists while shooting 6-10 from the floor and 3-5 from the arc.

Crockett picked Jordan Poydras' pocket after the inbounds pass and found senior Cordell Smith for a layup to cut the margin to four with 2:03 to play.

Crockett continued to spark the comeback as he rebounded Kevin Levandoski's miss as the SCSU shot clock wound down with 1:40 to play.

VanPelt hit a pair of free throws after being fouled on a loose ball trimming the margin to two with 1:31 left. He finished with 12 points and four assists after going scoreless in the first half.

Concordia defended SCSU on the next possession as Poydras missed a three-pointer with 1:07, but Travon Mitchell turned the ball over after getting the rebound to give SCSU another possession.

The Huskies missed a jumper with 48 seconds to play but grabbed the offensive rebound to drain another 30-plus seconds off the clock. Poydras misfired again with 17 seconds to play as his shot was blocked by Smith and rebounded by Mitchell.

On other end, Concordia had a pair of looks to tie the game as VanPelt missed a jumper with eight seconds that was rebounded by Mitchell who missed the put-back with four seconds to play.

Mitchell scored 13 points with eight rebounds off the bench. He shot 6-11 from the field.

Concordia had led early in the game, getting out to a 12-6 lead five minutes into play after a three-pointer by sophomore Mike Yahnke. The margin remained close for most of the half, though, as the teams struggled to gain the upper hand.

With just over six and a half minutes to play in the half and Concordia leading 25-22, SCSU made its run that would put them ahead for the rest of the night. The Huskies went on a 14-2 spurt to claim a nine point advantage with 1:43 to play in the half.

One of the top offensive rebounding teams in the league entering the night, SCSU held Concordia to under half its season average as the Golden Bears grabbed seven offensive rebounds and had just six second chance points.

The Golden Bears also committed twice the turnovers (12-to-6) as the Huskies which led to St. Cloud State attempting seven more shots on the evening to offset Concordia's defense holding the Huskies to 39.7% shooting (25-63) while Concordia shot 44.6% (25-56).

But SCSU outscored Concordia 26-15 on turnovers and second chances which would more than account for the final margin.

Poydras led the Huskies with 16 points on 5-15 shooting while two others had 11 points. The Huskies had seven players score at least six points on the evening.

The Golden Bears return to the road for their first NSIC North Division road trip next weekend at MSU Moorhead and Northern State.