ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (2-7, 0-4 NSIC) will look head into the new year on a high note as they close out the 2015 calendar year with a trip to Minnesota State (8-2, 3-1 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Saturday night's game will be available to watch online at the link listed above. Live stats will accompany the broadcast, along with a standalone live stats option.
 
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State enters play riding a three game winning streak in league play with a victory at Wayne State in the opening weekend before sweeping Upper Iowa and Winona State at home last weekend.
 
The Mavericks currently have five players averaging more than 10 points per game, including junior Mike Busack, who is leads MSU with 13.7 points per game. Senior Jalen Pendleton is following right behind with 13.6 points per game, while junior Jon Fuqua is averaging 12.3 points and a team-leading 6.7 rebounds per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Mavericks hold a 17-6 edge in the previous 23 meetings, including a 10-2 mark in Mankato, heading into this weekend's showdown. Concordia has found more success against MSU in recent years, winning four of the last nine contests, including the meeting in St. Paul last season. The last road win for the Golden Bears at Taylor Center came back on December 9, 2011 in a 79-73 win.
 
LAST MEETING VS MSU
Last season back on February 10th, CSP wasn't able to keep pace with Minnesota State in a 93-80 loss on Tuesday night at Taylor Center.
 
Minnesota State led by as many as 15 in the first half before the visiting Golden Bears went on a three-point shooting spree to cut the margin to eight at the break. They closed the gap all the way to four in the second half but were unable to get over the hump as Minnesota State pulled away late.
 
Keith Crockett led the Golden Bears with 21 points as he hit 8-12 from the floor and 3-3 from beyond the arc in an efficient evening. Cole Olstad and Shea Mandli were also effective as Olstad finished with 14 points, six boards and three assists while Mandli chipped in 10 points on 5-7 from the floor.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears dropped a pair of games on their home court last weekend as they fell to Winona State and Upper Iowa.
 
In Friday's loss, CSP shot 21.4 percent (6-28) in the second half, coming up short 59-50 to the Warriors. The Golden Bears were 0-13 from the arc in the contest, the first time the team went without making a three-pointer since December 29, 2005 in a 62-57 win over Nebraska-Omaha, going 0-7 at Gangelhoff Center. Concordia took a 31-30 lead into the break and held the Warriors scoreless for the first eight and a half minutes of the second half. But Concordia was only able to pull ahead by nine points, 39-30 on a monster put-back dunk by Josh Monroy for Concordia's largest lead of the night. From there, the Golden Bears went cold as the Warriors went on a 16-2 run over the next six minutes to turn the tables and close out the win.
 
On Saturday, three-point shooting once again played a crucial role in the final outcome as Concordia dropped a 103-80 loss to Upper Iowa. The Peacocks knocked down 15-26 (57.7%) from behind the arc led by the breakout performance from freshman Elliot Kane who made 7-11 three-pointers with all 11 of his shot attempts being from distance as he finished with 21 points.
While Concordia's three-point shooting picked up in the second half, it couldn't keep pace with a red-hot UIU squad that made 72.0 (18-25) from the floor to put up 53 points, topping Concordia's 43 point second half.
 
Shea Mandli paced the Golden Bears over the weekend with 11.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. He hit 50.0% from the floor and 90.9% from the free throw line as he continued to produce in his most productive season of his career. His weekend was highlighted by his second double-double of the season as he put up 10 points and 12 boards against WSU on Friday.