CROOKSTON, Minn. – The Concordia University men's basketball team (8-15, 5-14 NSIC) picked up their third win in the past five games with a 82-66 win over Minnesota Crookston (4-19, 1-18 NSIC) on Friday night. The Golden Bears have now knocked off the Golden Eagles seven times in a row and 20 out of the 24 meetings all-time.
 
The Golden Bears used a 51-23 run starting late in the first half through most of the second half to pull away from Crookston.
CU shot 49.1% from the floor, their second best percentage on the year, and hit 9-22 (40.9%) from three.

Cordell Smith tied a career-high with 21 points on just six shots. Smith went 5-6 from the floor, 4-5 from three and 7-8 from the line. He also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

Mike Yahnke also had a career night, finishing with a career-high 15 points on 6-10 from the floor in 24 minutes.

Terez VanPelt broke the 20 point plateau for the 10th time this year, finishing with 21 points on 7-15 shooting. He has now connected on 24 straight free throws after going 6-6 tonight. His career best is 30 in a row.

Derrick Redd was the only Golden Eagle in double figures with 14 points.

UMC as a team connected on 40.7% of their shots and 35.3% from beyond the arc. Crookston did manage to outrebound the Golden Bears 35-32 and outscore CU 15-2 on the fastbreak and 25-12 off the bench but it wasn't enough to get it done.
 
The first half featured five ties and nine lead changes as the two teams went back and forth for much of the half. Neither team had a lead larger than five until just a few minutes before the break. After Crookston took a 26-24 lead, the Golden Bears came alive with a 17-4 run to close out the half with a 43-30 lead in favor of Concordia. The run was capped off with a three from Clay Olstad just before time expired to send the Golden Bears into the break with all the momentum.
 
The Golden Bears dominated the second half, starting off the half on a 34-19 run. The lead ballooned out to 20 with just over 15 minutes remaining and continued to grow. The lead got as large as 28 (77-49) as Concordia cruised to a win. The Golden Eagles did close out the game on a 17-5 run but it was too late to put the end result into question.
 
Concordia returns to the hardwood tomorrow night in Bemidji as the Golden Bears take on the Bemidji State Beavers. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.