WAYNE, Neb. – The Concordia men's basketball team (9-6, 5-4 NSIC) picked up their first road win under head coach Joey James as they cruised to an 80-69 win over Wayne State (3-13, 0-10 NSIC) on Saturday night. Cole Olstad led the way for the Golden Bears with a season-high 25 points and career-high 11 rebounds to pick up the double-double in the win.
 
Olstad was an efficient 7-11 from the floor, 2-3 from three and a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe as he also chipped in four assists and four steals in a full line.
 
Defense was once again the difference-maker for Concordia as they held the Wildcats to just 20.0% (3-15) from beyond the arc and 37.3% (19-51) from the field overall.
 
The Golden Bears also got things going on the offensive end as they hit 44.2% (19-43) from the field and an impressive 52.9% (9-17) from three-point range. The nine threes and 52.9% from beyond the arc were both the second best on the year for the team.
 
CU got to the free throw line a staggering 45 times, hitting 33 of them, and WSC went 28-34 as the two teams combined for 79 free throw attempts in the game.
 
Concordia also did a nice job of taking advantage of the turnovers they forced as they turned WSC's 15 turnovers into 21 points while the Wildcats were limited to just 12 points on CU's 16 turnovers.
 
Joining Olstad in double figures for the Golden Bears were Terez VanPelt, Jon Sobaski and Nuni Omot.
 
VanPelt hit just 3-9 from the floor but made his presence felt in other ways as he hit 7-8 from the line and added four assists as he finished with 15 points.
 
Sobaski turned in a career-best 11 points as he was 2-4 from three-point range and 5-8 from the free throw line as he added a pair of assists off the bench.
 
Omot finished with 10 points on 3-6 shooting and 3-4 from the line to go along with five boards.
 
For the Wildcats, Austin Esters paced the attack with 14 points on 4-9 shooting in 22 minutes off the bench. He was joined by Jordan Cornelius and Jordan Holdsworth in double figures.
 
The Golden Bears were in control from the opening tip as they ran out to a 17-0 lead in the first six minutes of the game as Olstad poured in a quick eight points. The Wildcats battled back over the next few minutes as they closed the gap back to single digits at 20-11 but three consecutive three-pointers for Concordia pushed the lead to 18 at 9:10 mark of the first half.
 
The first three of that sequence came from Terez VanPelt as he surpassed Brian Jamros' (2001-05) mark of 1,371 points in his career, moving him into third place on the all-time list at Concordia.
 
CU maintained their comfortable lead for much of the half as they held a 36-18 lead with three minutes left in the half, but Wayne State put together a strong stretch to close the half as they shrunk their deficit back to 11 at 37-26 with an 8-1 run.
 
Concordia had the lead back at 17 by the 16:45 mark of the second half as VanPelt and Olstad hit back-to-back threes to make it 45-28. Wayne State spent much of the rest of the half chipping away at the CU lead as they eventually cut it all the way to eight with a 12-5 run stretching five minutes as they trailed 55-47 with 7:16 to play. The lead stretched back to 13 with nine of the next 14 points going in favor of the Golden Bears but the Wildcats wouldn't go away.
 
Wayne State made it a two possession game with an 8-1 run in a quick burst lasting just over a minute as they brought the score to 65-59 with 3:13 remaining in the game. Concordia hunkered down at the free throw line down the stretch as they didn't allow the Wildcats to get any closer as they iced an 80-69 win.
 
Concordia remains on the road next weekend as they travel north to Minnesota Crookston and Bemidji State.