ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (12-6, 8-4 NSIC) held on for a 71-68 victory over Sioux Falls (7-12, 4-9 NSIC) on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center. Concordia held a 14-point lead with 14 minutes left with Sioux Falls trimming it to two points late before missing a half court shot at the horn. The win for Concordia extends its win streak to a season-long four games with a 7-1 record over the last eight games.

Concordia returns home tomorrow, hosting Southwest Minnesota State (9-10, 5-8 NSIC) at 6 p.m. The Mustangs fell 95-78 at #20 Minnesota State tonight in Mankato, Minn. and have dropped six straight.

Terez VanPelt led Concordia with 16 points on 6-9 shooting including 2-3 three-point shooting. Nuni Omot added 15 points while Keith Crockett had 14 points, five rebounds and four assists. Omot was 6-10 and Crockett 5-7 from the field. The three players combined to shoot 65.3 percent for the game.

Sioux Falls was led by Mack Johnson's 16 points. Last year, Johnson scored 29 points at Gangelhoff Center in a USF win as he made 10-11 from the floor and 7-7 from three. This year, he struggled to get into a rhythm, shooting 6-20 from the field and 4-15 from three-point range. Charles Ward added 15 points, while Jordan Stotts added 13 off the bench. The USF trio shot 40 percent.

Leading by 14 points with juts under 11 minutes to play, Sioux Falls began to suffocate Concordia with an aggressive fullcourt press. The Golden Bears committed half of their 14 turnovers in the final nine and a half minutes of play, but managed to navigate the Cougar press just enough to hold on for the win.

Despite the aggressive press by USF, Concordia only turned the ball over 14 times and forced 12 and Concordia held a 16-12 scoring advantage off turnovers.

Concordia led for most of the evening, officially holding the lead for 37:36 of 40 minutes. The game featured only one tie and five early lead changes. USF's last lead with 6-5 with 15:19 to play.

While Concordia's leading trio drastically outshot their Sioux Falls counterparts, the Golden Bears also held a strong advantage from the floor. Concordia shot 48.2 percent to USF's 37.1 percent. The Cougars were able to offset the Concordia shooting advantage by hauling in 17 offensive rebounds to Concordia's nine which led to a 20-9 margin in second chance scoring.

Concordia was led on the glass by Cole Olstad's eight rebounds while he added seven points and saw his consecutive free throws made streak stop at 29 late in the game.