BEMIDJI, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (11-6, 7-4 NSIC) was able to grind out a come from behind road victory 70-66 at Bemidji State (7-9, 3-9 NSIC) on Saturday evening at Sanford Center. The Golden Bears have now won six of their last seven games and are in third in the NSIC South Division and fifth overall in the 16-team Northern Sun. The three game win streak is Concordia's third of the season.

The Golden Bears trailed by as many as 11 early in the second half (19:46) before opening up a seven point lead by outscoring BSU 32-14 over nearly 12 minutes to take a 61-54 lead with 7:23 to play in the game.

BSU only had one possession with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final nine minutes, missing a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:03 to play before Nuni Omot scored five points, hitting a three-pointer late in the shot clock with 26 seconds left and making two free throws with under eight seconds left to seal the win. He finished with 14 points on the night.

The win is Concordia's third straight overall with all three coming on the road where the Golden Bears were 0-4 prior to the winning streak. The loss drops BSU's losing streak to five games including three straight home losses where they have picked up six of their seven wins on the season between BSU Gymnasium and Sanford Center.

Concordia senior guard Terez VanPelt scored eight points to become the third player in program history to reach 1,400 points, joining all-time scoring leader Craig Heiman (2006-10, 1,768 pts) and Jeff Chamberlain (1993-97, 1,443 pts). VanPelt played 36 minutes, dishing out two assists with one turnover as Concordia turned the ball over only eight times while forcing 13.

His senior backcourt mate Keith Crockett was a primary culprit for forcing BSU's miscues with six steals in the game. He also scored eight points on just one shot, going 1-1 from the floor and 6-10 from the foul line.

Omot, Cole Olstad and Shea Mandli all had 14 points to lead Concordia as Olstad registered his second double-double in the last three games.

Omot was 4-8 from the field, 2-4 from three-point distance and 4-4 at the foul line including two made free throws with seven-plus seconds left to make it a two possesion game, 70-66 which would end up being the final score.

Mandli's season-high in points led Concordia's bench, shooting 4-6 from the field and 6-10 from the foul line while adding six rebounds in a season-high 27 minutes. He's shot at least 60 percent from the field in five straight games, averaging 8.6 points during the stretch.

The game started rocky for Concordia as the Golden Bears spotted the Beavers eight points in the first three minutes to start the game and Concordia didn't score until 3:48 into play when Mandli knocked down a pair at the line.

Mandli's free throws opened up Concordia's first run, starting a string of 12-straight points while keeping BSU off the scoreboard for the next three minutes.

The Beavers responded with nine straight once again for a 17-12 lead in a first half consisting of runs and counter-runs.

After Concordia used a 10-3 spurt to claim a 29-28 lead with 2:39 to play in the half, the Beavers responded with three straight three-pointers to close out the half.

Bemidji State was red hot in the first half, hitting 9-of-13 from three-point distance to lead 37-28 at the break as Concordia struggled from three-point range at just 2-12.

But the key stat in the first half that allowed Concordia to get back in the game was holding BSU to just 3-18 shooting inside the arc as the Beavers had just four first half free throw attempts, content to settle for (and convert) three-pointers.

In the second half, Bemidji State made just 4-14 from three-point range and the result of shooting a high volume of perimeter shots led to just five second half free throw attempts. BSU picked up its inside game, but took fewer two-pointers (12) than three-pointers (14) despite converting 7-12 inside the arc.

Concordia's second half offense was efficient, hitting 54.5 percent (12-22) from the field, 50.0 percent (4-8) from the arc and getting to the foul line 20 times despite converting just 65.0 percent (13-20).

The Golden Bears reached the free throw line 30 times for the game to BSU's nine while out-rebounding the Beavers 32-30.

BSU opened the second half with its 10th three-pointer on the first possession of the period to extend its lead to 11, the largest lead of the night.

Concordia answered with six straight points on three-pointers by Olstad and Omot and the margin stayed within that range over the next few minutes.

Trailing by six, 47-41 with 16:32 to play, the Golden Bears clawed back to tie at 47 with 14:56 to play and reclaimed the lead at 53-51 with 11:20 to go on an Olstad layup.

Concordia extended the lead to seven, 61-54 for a 20-7 run over a nine minute stretch following a pair of VanPelt free throws and would hold the lead the rest of the way.

Bemidji State's Shane White missed a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:03 to play with Crockett rebounding and Omot hitting a three-pointer as the shot clock wound down with 26 seconds to go to extend the lead back to five.

The Beavers hit their 13th three-pointer of the evening with 17 seconds left before Omot sealed the game at the foul line, extending the margin from two to four points with under eight seconds to play.

The White three-pointer with 1:03 left was BSU's only possession with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final nine minutes of play.

White led BSU with 14 points and seven rebounds while Clayton Elrod also scored 14 points on 4-8 three-point shooting and Kaylor Zimmerman added 12 points on 4-5 three-point shooting. The trio made 10 three-pointers but combined to shoot just 5-16 inside the arc.

On the evening, Concordia held BSU to 10-30 shooting from inside the arc, Concordia outscored BSU 18-9 off turnovers and 22-14 in the paint.