LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Concordia-St. Paul (0-1) dropped its season opener 61-52 to Emporia State (1-0) on Friday afternoon at Doolittle Community Center, shooting 68.4% (13-19) in the first half before going cold with 25.0% (6-24) second half shooting.

The Golden Bears complete their Vegas tour tomorrow at 4 p.m. (central) against Lindenwood University (Mo.).

Concordia finished the game shooting 44.2% (19-43) from the floor in the tale of two shooting halves, but hit just 50.0% (13-26) at the free throw line and made just one of six from behind the arc.

The Golden Bears clamped down on Emporia State defensively, however by holding the Hornets to 38.6% (17-44) shooting, 31.8% (7-22) three-point shooting and forced 15 turnovers.

But Concordia's 22 turnovers (13 in the second half) allowed Emporia State to rack up an 8-point advantage in points off turnovers (21-13).

Concordia held a strong inside advantage over the Hornets with a 37-25 rebounding margin including 13-6 on the offensive glass. That led to a 12-4 edge in second chance scoring and 30-18 in the paint.

The physical presence in the post caught up with them in the second half as the four post players with 15-plus minutes each registered four fouls including one foul-out.

Despite the strong start from the floor, the Golden Bears trailed the Hornets by a point at the break, 34-33 as Emporia State knocked down five first half three-pointers and made 11-13 at the foul line. Concordia would hit just one of its three chances from long range and 6-12 at the stripe to offset ESU's 40.9% shooting from the floor.

In the second half, Concordia started to gain momentum as redshirt freshman Nuni Omot found junior Cole Olstad who drew the foul and finished for the three-point play to take a 39-36 lead just under four minutes into play.

While the Hornets tied the contest back up at 40 a few minutes later, a four point spurt within 10 seconds on a layup by junior Shea Mandli was followed by a pair of Olstad free throws for Concordia's largest lead of the game, 44-40 with 11:51 to play.

That's when Concordia went cold offensively, getting just one point on a Mike Yahnke free throw during a seven-plus minute stretch of action that allowed the Hornets to go on a 12-1 run and take a 52-45 lead with under five minutes left.

During the cold spell, the Golden Bears went 0-6 from the floor, committed seven turnovers and went 1-5 at the foul line including a missed front end of a one-and-one.

Mandli would finish a three-point play and Yahnke added a tip-in to cut the margin back to four points with under two minutes to play but Emporia State was able to make 5-7 at the stripe down the stretch while holding Concordia scoreless over the final 1:41 to ice the game.

Yahnke led the Golden Bears with nine points on 4-8 shooting, adding five rebounds. Senior Terez VanPelt scored eight points and six others scored between four and six points in a balanced offensive effort.

Josh Monroy led Concordia on the glass with six rebounds while Omot and Mandli each pulled down five.

Emporia State was led by Terrence Moore with 21 points on 7-12 shooting and 6-8 foul shooting.