ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (5-3, 1-1 NSIC) held #11 Augustana (8-1, 2-1 NSIC) to over 20 points under its season scoring average but the Vikings were able to hold on for a 65-59 over the host Golden Bears on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia was led by redshirt freshman Nuni Omot with 18 points on 5-6 shooting off the bench including 2-3 from three-point range and 6-7 at the foul line. He led a balanced scoring effort as five players scored at least eight points.

The Golden Bear defense held the Vikings 20.9 points shy of their season average and to their season low in scoring a night after failing to top 78 points for the first time all year in a road loss at #13 Minnesota State (81-67).


CU Men's Basketball vs. Augustana 12.6.2014 - Images by Justin Oakman

Augustana entered the evening ranked second in the league in scoring averaging 85.9 points while shooting 48.7 percent from the field. The team is led by junior post Daniel Jansen, averaging a league-high 21.3 points along with a fifth-ranked rebounding total (7.8) and junior Casey Schilling with at third in the league in scoring (17.4) and rebounding (8.5).

But Concordia entered with the nation's top-ranked field goal percentage defense (34.0) and the top-ranked scoring defense (58.1) and three-point defense (29.1) in the league.

The Golden Bears came out and stunned the 11th-ranked team in the country, holding Augie to 1-12 shooting to start the night to build an eight point advantage midway through the first half and led 29-28 at the break. Concordia not only eliminated Jansen and Schilling as threats early on, but forced them to have a negative impact in the first half.

At the break, the physical and versatile Viking duo was stifled to a combined 3-11 shooting, four turnovers (2 each) and 10 total points (5 each). Concordia held the Vikings to 32.3 percent (10-31) team shooting in the first half while converting at a slightly more efficient 37.9 percent (11-29) on their own end.

In the second half, Concordia's defense continued to clamp down on Jansen as he would finish the night just 2-11 from the floor for eight points, hitting a pair of three-pointers but going 0-3 from inside the arc. He committed four turnovers as well while grabbing six rebounds.

But Schilling got rolling, hitting all three of his shots in the second half and finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds. The key offensive culprit for Augustana being able to pull away from Concordia was Alex Richter, who made five of eight shots in the second half to finish the night with 14 points and a number of key finishes inside as the second half progressed.

Together, Schilling and Richter helped Augustana shoot 51.9 percent (14-27) from the field in the second half while Augustana's defense limited Concordia to 45.8 percent (11-24) shooting.

For the night, the Golden Bears held the Vikings to 41.4 percent (24-58) shooting and a season-low 22.2 percent (6-27) three-point evening with the six made three-pointers matching the team's season-low.

Concordia established itself early in the contest, as junior Mike Yahnke battled Jansen on the glass, getting an offensive rebound and the put-back on the opening possession. Yahnke would finish with eight points and seven rebounds.

After a defensive stop, senior Keith Crockett grabbed the rebound and finished on the other end. He scored 10 points and had a pair of steals for Concordia.

Two minutes later, Omot hit his first three-pointer to give Concordia a 7-2 lead three minutes into play, a lead that would grow to eight, 15-7 after Omot's second three-pointer just inside of 12 minutes left in the half.

The Vikings responded with 10-straight points to take their first lead of the night, 17-15 with 8:58 to play in the half, although Concordia quickly scored five straight to get back in front and led until halftime.

In the second half, the defensive battled continued in the low scoring affair and Concordia had just three points in the first seven minutes coming out of the break as Augustana went back on top, 37-34.

From there, Augustana held the lead the rest of the night, pushing it to as large as 10 with just under two and a half minutes to play. Concordia would trim it back to four, but couldn't get any closer as Adam Beyer delivered two late free throws to seal it. Beyer had 12 points on 4-5 shooting, five rebounds and three assists for the Vikings.

Senior Terez VanPelt added nine points, five rebounds and five assists although Augie's defense forced him to commit six of Concordia's 13 turnovers. Junior Cole Olstad had 12 points and five rebounds along with four first half steals.

Concordia dropped the rebound margin for just the second time this season as Augustana out-rebounded the Golden Bears 38-30 including 15-9 on the offensive glass.

Concordia hits the road in league play for the first time this season next weekend, travelling to Winona State and Upper Iowa on Friday and Saturday.