ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team hosted the fourth-ranked team in Division III on Thursday night, defeating St. Thomas 77-71 at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia opens the regular season next weekend in Warrensburg, Mo. against East Central (Okla.) and at Central Missouri on Nov. 13-14 at UCM's tournament. East Central and Central Missouri are receiving votes for the NABC Division II Top-25, as are the Golden Bears.

Concordia went into the game with nine players in uniform as multiple players weren't able to play due to either injury or illness. The team relied on an eight man rotation with all five starters clocking at least 28 minutes. UST featured a similar rotation, going nine deep with the starting five playing at least 29.

The teams went back and forth in the early going with four ties and a pair of lead changes in the first five-plus minutes when Bryndan Matthews finished on the break to put Concordia ahead for good just 5:05 into the game.

Matthews, a freshman, had a big night as he converted 8-12 for 17 points with 13 coming in the first half on 6-9 shooting.

It was senior Cole Olstad, an All-NSIC Second Team pick last year and one of 17 players in team history to top 1,000 career points who put the Tommies away. Olstad scored 12 of his game-high 19 points in the second half and had a double-double with 10 rebounds, adding three steals and a pair of assists. He was 7-12 shooting and 4-4 at the line in an efficient night.

The Golden Bears used a 12-2 run late in the first half to take a 33-19 lead and held a 37-26 lead at the break.

Concordia kept the lead in double figures throughout the early part of the second half and each time UST brought it back to single digits the Golden Bears countered with big shots to push it back above 10.

Finally, with Concordia leading 71-60 with just over six minutes remaining, UST made its strongest run with seven straight points in a minute-plus of game time.

But Concordia never allowed the game to get back to one possession and held on for the exhibition win.

While Olstad and Matthews combined for 36 points on 15-24 shooting, returners Shea Mandli and Jon Sobaski pitched in solid offensive performances. Sobaski scored 12 points and added four assists to one turnover while running the point while Mandli bruised inside for 16 points including a game-high eight free throw attempts.

Four Tommies scored in double figures led by Grant Shaeffer's 18 points and five assists while Ryan Saarela had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Concordia shot more than twice as many free throws (23) as the Tommies (10) and forced UST to shoot 20 three-pointers, making just five while Concordia knocked down nearly that many (4) in nine fewer attempts (11).