MOORHEAD, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (8-19), the eighth seed from the NSIC South Division, nearly pulled off an upset over the top seed from the NSIC North, MSU Moorhead (20-7) but fell short 68-64 on Wednesday night at Alex Nemzek Fieldhouse in Moorhead, Minn. in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament First Round.

Junior Travon Mitchell had a look at a game-tying three-pointer with 25 seconds left but after it was off the mark the Dragons made six straight free throws down the stretch to keep the Golden Bears from getting another possession with a chance to tie or take the lead.

Mitchell finished with 12 points while senior Cordell Smith led the team with 14 points before fouling out in 29 minutes of play. Smith was 5-6 from the floor and 4-5 from three-point range in his final game.

Junior Keith Crockett led the point with nine points and a season-high nine assists with just one turnover. The nine assists was also a team-high for the year as he played all 40 minutes, had two steals and five rebounds while connecting on two three-pointers.

Junior Terez VanPelt added 11 points while playing all 40 minutes through an injury and shot 4-6 from the floor. He made both free throws to extend his streak to 35-straight to end the season.

VanPelt has 1,220 points in his three years as a Golden Bear, just one point shy of moving into eighth on the all-time list held by Justin Vandenberg (2001-05).

The 8-versus-1 game featured six ties and 14 lead changes but the host Dragons led for the last 8:34 of play, never leading by more than six.

Concordia shot 53.3% (24-45), just the second contest this year that the Golden Bears have shot above 50.0%. The Golden Bears also drained 47.1% (8-17) from the arc.

More impressively and a bigger key to upsetting the NSIC North tri-champion and Dragons was the defensive effort. Concordia held an MSUM team that ranked second in NSIC play in scoring (85.1) to just 68 points on 36.5% (23-63) shooting that included 20.0% (4-20) shooting from three-point range.

But the Dragons countered by outscoring Concordia 18-8 at the foul line (24-18 in attempts) and most importantly held a decisive edge on the offensive glass (18-3) and in turnovers (15-6) to offset Concordia's major shooting edge.

The result was MSUM putting up 18 more shots which was key because the Dragons barely capitalized on the second chances and turnovers, combining for a 22-14 scoring edge in those areas.

Concordia was on fire in the first half, hitting 14 of its first 19 shots (73.7%) before missing the final shot before the break to go into the locker room at a round 70.0% from the floor. The Golden Bears also hit six of their first seven three-pointers in the contest.

Concordia led by six, 37-31, as Travon Mitchell finished in the lane with 1:14 to play before the break before taking a 37-33 into halftime.

The Golden Bear offense slowed somewhat, hitting 5-of-17 to find themselves trailing 52-49 with 6:29 to play in the game as the defense continued to slow the Dragons.

And although MSUM wasn't able to turn strong offensive rebounding and turnover margins into points, it slowed Concordia's dominant shooting start as the second half unfolded.

Coincidentally, the only other time this season Concordia shot 50-plus percent was at MSUM on Jan. 10 (57.8%) in a loss to the Dragons. While the high shooting was an oddity, so was getting crushed on the offensive glass. Concordia had been second in the league with 12.3 offensive rebounds per game on the year, grabbing just three tonight. The Golden Bears were also 15th in the country in fewest turnovers committed, averaging 10.1 per game while committing an uncharacteristic 10 in the first half alone.

And while Concordia's shooting and defensive effort made up for those factors, the team going 8-of-18 at the foul line (44.4%) proved costly as well.

Concordia's bench, senior Chris Halvorsen and sophomore Shea Mandli - both posts, had six and five points, respectively while combining to shoot 4-6 from the floor with six total rebounds. Halvorsen also dished two assists.

The Dragons were led by Malik Wood's 16 points while Tarell Clark had nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Urbane Bingham added 11 points on 5-6 shooting off the bench.

MSU Moorhead, ranked 10th in the NCAA Central Region, will move to the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals against Upper Iowa on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.