MANKATO, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (2-8, 0-5 NSIC) was efficient from long range and clawed its way to an edge on second chances but came up short in an 86-59 road loss at Minnesota State (9-2, 4-1 NSIC) on Saturday evening at Taylor Center.
Concordia held a slight 14-13 advantage in offensive rebounds in the game, which in itself isn't a major feat considering the Golden Bears had 39 misses (20-59 FG) compared to MSU's 35 (33-64 FG, 4 missed FT). But Concordia capitalized for 15 second chance points while limiting MSU to nine.
The Golden Bears also played a more aggressive brand of offense in getting to the foul line 16 times (13-16) while MSU had just nine free throw attempts and struggled to convert, making three.
But Minnesota State was hot from the arc and efficient from the floor overall as the Mavericks buried 17 three-pointers (17-36) at a 47.2 percent clip and made 51.6 percent (33-64) from the floor overall compared to Concordia's 20-59 shooting. The Golden Bears were solid from the arc, hitting 50 percent but had just 12 three-point attempts.
The Mavericks led from wire-to-wire and were led by Jalen Pendleton's triple-double with 11 points, 12 assists (five turnovers) and 10 rebounds. Joey Witthus had 24 points as all of his 13 shots were three-pointers with eight makes and Snoop Viser scored 20 points including four three-pointers.
The Golden Bears had a balanced three player offensive output led by freshman
Bryndan Matthews' 14 points on 5-13 shooting including 2-3 three-point shooting. Seniors
Cole Olstad and
Shea Mandli each added 13 points with Mandli getting it done at the stripe (7-9) and Olstad connecting from the arc (2-5). Mandli added nine rebounds and two blocks on the interior.
Redshirt freshman
Matt Ambriz delivered on his two three-point attempts off the bench to lead a Concordia bench that featured four freshman and junior
Josh Monroy.
MSU jumped out to a fast 10- start in the first three and a half minutes of play although Concordia would counter with an 11-3 spurt with buckets by junior
Diallo Powell starting and ending the run. Powell had six points and seven rebounds in the game.
The Golden Bears cut the margin to one, 16-15 with 8:58 to play in the half when freshman
OC Omoregie made the second of two free throws.
The Mavericks extended the lead back to 12 late in the half (37-25) and had a nine point halftime lead, 39-30.
Concordia would score the first seven points of the second half as Matthews caught fire with a steal and lay-in on the break and a three-pointer to make it 39-37 under two minutes in.
MSU countered with it crushing 18-3 stretch of play that spanned nearly seven minutes as the Mavericks opened up their largest lead of 17, 57-40 with just 11:25 to play in the game.
From there, the lead remained in double-digits as MSU held off the Golden Bears, seeking their first NSIC win.
Concordia will return to non-conference play before the New Year with a home game against Saint John's on Wednesday, December 30 at 7 p.m.
