NSIC/SANFORD HEALTH TOURNAMENT LINKS:  WEBSITE  ||  BRACKET

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Concordia-St. Paul (8-18, 5-17 NSIC) dropped its regular season finale 95-90 in overtime at Sioux Falls (15-11, 12-10 NSIC) on Saturday night at Stewart Center.

Concordia is assigned the eighth seed in the NSIC South Division for the NSIC/Sanford Health Basketball Tournament and will play MSU Moorhead, the top seed from the NSIC North Division, next Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Nemzek Hall.

Senior Chris Halvorsen (St. Paul, Minn.) threw down a game-tying two-handed slam with 4.9 seconds to play on a feed from senior Cordell Smith (Mequon, Wis.) out of a double team on the right wing near the sideline to send the Golden Bears into overtime tied at 74.

Smith had a big night with 25 points, 10 rebounds and two steals before fouling out in 41 minutes of play. He made four three-pointers in the game and was 7-11 at the stripe. It was his second double-double of the year and third of his career. He topped 20 points for the third time in the last four games and fourth time this season while tying his career-high.

In fact, four Golden Bears fouled out in the game and junior scoring leader Terez VanPelt played just 25 minutes and didn't finish the contest with an apparent injury. VanPelt scored 15 points on 5-7 shooting and 4-4 free throw shooting before his evening ended early. He's now made a career best 33 straight free throws.

VanPelt topped 1,200 career points in the loss, moving up to 1,209 points and ninth on the career scoring list.

Junior Travon Mitchell scored 21 points and also fouled out in 42 minutes of action.

While Concordia's three top scorers, Smith, Mitchell and VanPelt, all hit double-figures, no one else reached double-digits.

Although Concordia's three-headed post tandem of sophomores Mike Yahnke and Shea Mandli and the senior Halvorsen combined to score 23 points on 9-14 shooting.

Concordia was unable to slow down Derek Brown who scored a game-high 32 points on 9-16 shooting including six three-pointers. He led five Cougars in double-figures while two others scored at least seven.

The game featured seven ties and four lead changes although Concordia led by as many as 13 points with 11:26 to play (55-42).

Sioux Falls burst out for an 11-0 run in just 1:44 of play to bring the margin within two, 55-53 with 9:42 left.

While Concordia maintained a slim lead for the next few minutes, the Cougars finally tied the game at 64 with 5:06 remaining and took the lead back with just over three minutes to play, 68-66.

Sioux Falls kept the lead down the stretch until Mitchell tied the game at 72 with 45 seconds to play. USF countered with a Mahlon Jones layup with 20 seconds to go setting up Concordia for a game-tying possession with the full clock.

Mitchell drove the lane and his contested shot at the rim bounced out with Smith gathering the rebound before finding himself well defended outside the arc with seven seconds left.

In overtime, Sioux Falls buried a three-pointer on its first possession and hit another with 3:09 to play while Concordia only countered with two free throws during the same stretch.

Sioux Falls led the rest of the way, expanding it to seven points twice including an 89-82 margin with 34 seconds to play.

Concordia wouldn't let up, though, trimming it to three points two different times but Sioux Falls would convert free throws to keep the Golden Bears from getting a possession with a chance to tie.