Edit: Saturday's game at Bemidji State will be played at Sanford Center, not BSU Gym as previously noted

ST. PAUL, Minn. - This weekend, Concordia-St. Paul (9-6, 5-4 NSIC) closes out a 4-game road stand with its first trip to NSIC North Division territory. The Golden Bears will travel to Minnesota Crookston (6-8, 4-6 NSIC) on Friday night with an 8 p.m. tip at Lysaker Gymnasium before heading to Bemidji State (7-7, 3-7 NSIC) on Saturday night with a 6 p.m. tip at Sanford Center.

After picking up their first road win of the year on Saturday at Wayne State (80-69), the Golden Bears will look to continue the momentum to improve their 1-4 road record. It'll be a challenging weekend as the Golden Eagles are on pace to their best season as a Division II and NSIC member. Their four league wins tie their second most in a season since joining the Northern Sun in 1999-2000 and are just two off their 2000-01 single season NSIC wins record when they finished 6-12. They hadn't won four games in league play since 2001-02. Their six overall wins are one shy of tying the second most as a Division II member (1999-pres), achieved four other times and most recently in 2011-12 (7-19) and just three wins off their top finish of 9-17 in 2000-01. The Golden Eagles are also 5-2 at home but reeling on a three game losing streak which started with a home loss to Minot State.

On Saturday, the Golden Bears will play a Bemidji State team that has captured NSIC championships in two of the last three years, winning the overall title in 2011-12 before being a tri-North Division champion in 2013-14 along with MSU Moorhead and St. Cloud State. The Beavers are also on a three game losing streak but like UMC have a strong home record at 6-3. BSU's losing streak also started at home with a loss to U-Mary.

Concordia has fared well in one other weekend series against the NSIC North Division, sweeping Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State at Gangelhoff Center on January 2-3 in St. Paul. The Bulldogs and Huskies are each 5-5 in NSIC play this year, holding leads over UMC and BSU in the North Division standings. Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston went a combined 1-7 against those two teams as they've completed their season home/away series.

For the complete weekend preview of Concordia men's basketball, view this week's game notes.