ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Wednesday night at 7 p.m., Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball (2-8) will host Saint John's in the Golden Bears' final non-conference contest of the 2015-16 season.

SERIES HISTORY: SJU 3, Concordia 1
The Golden Bears are 1-3 against the Johnnies all-time, winning the most recent meeting 91-69 on Dec. 9, 2005 in St. Cloud, Minn. In that contest, Kenneth Pointer led Concordia with 18 points on 8-13 shooting and Kyle Marxhausen added 17 points on 7-9 shooting with 3-4 three-point shooting. Ty Thomas contributed 12 points and eight rebounds. Posts Aaron Ackerson and Colby Swanson combined to convert 10-12 from the field for 24 points with Ackerson scoring 13 to Swanson's 11. As a team, Concordia shot 66.0 percent (35-53) from the floor in the win.

Concordia has only hosted SJU in regular season play once, a 77-73 loss on Nov. 30, 1996 at Gangelhoff Center when the Golden Bears were an NAIA program.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS
After a 2-2 start that included back-to-back 10-point wins over St. Olaf and a road win at Bemidji State, the Golden Bears have dropped six in a row including an 0-5 start to the Northern Sun campaign. Entering the year, the team aimed to produce with a four guard, small-ball style lineup with concerns centered around rebounding. Team rebounding has been a strength in the early part of the season as the team ranks sixth in rebounds (38.4), seventh in rebounds against (34.6) and eighth in rebound margin (+3.8). The team also ranks sixth in the 16-team NSIC in offensive rebounding, collecting 11.3 misses per game with the sixth-ranked offensive rebound percentage (.313).

COLE OLSTAD CLIMBING THE RANKS
Senior Cole Olstad is closing in on 100 career games played as a Golden Bear and is the 12th ranked scorer in team history with 1,172 points with a 12.7 average as a senior, nearly a point better than his career mark of 12.0. In addition, his rebounding average of 5.2 is above his career mark of 4.9 and his second highest single season average thus far. He's shooting 35.6 percent from the arc (16-45) and 79.5 percent at the line (31-39) on the year. In his career, he's 37.9 percent from the arc (159-419) and 79.9 percent at the stripe (251-314).

Aside from being the 12th ranked career scorer, he's fifth in three-pointers made and steals (142), seventh in free throw percentage, eighth in free throws made and steals per game (1.4), ninth in assists (189), 10th in rebounds (478) and is four blocks shy of reaching the top-10, ranking 12th with 54.

On the year, he leads the team in scoring (12.7), steals (18), blocks (7), three-pointers made (16), free throw percentage (.795 - min. 1.0 per team game) and is second in assists (23) and fourth in rebounds (5.2).

He's scored in double-figures six times including the last two games and has had at least five rebounds seven times while nabbing multiple steals six times and making at least two three-pointers six times.

SHEA MANDLI CONTINUES TO PRODUCE
While providing a steady presence in the post each of the last three years, senior Shea Mandli has lifted his game to a new level in his final season by averaging career-highs of 10.2 points and 6.4 rebounds, second and first on the team respectively. His previous career-high in scoring last year was 7.0 and his top rebounding season was his freshman campaign at 4.0 as this year's numbers are a significant jump. He's converting at a 51.4 percent rate from the field (36-70) and a career-best 75.0 percent mark at the stripe (30-40) where he has been to the line the second most on the team.

He's scored in double figures in six of the last seven games including his second and third career double-doubles as he had one in three years prior to this season. He has scored at least six points every game and collected at least six rebounds seven times.

ABOUT THE JOHNNIES
The game will be an exhibition for the Johnnies, who are off to an 8-1 start and receiving votes in the D3hoops.com Top-25. Concordia has already dispatched of two ranked MIAC teams, beating preseason #4 St. Thomas 77-71 in exhibition and #15 St. Olaf 73-63 in the regular season home opener. SJU's regular season resume includes an 83-80 win at St. Cloud State in the season opener, as well as a home win over St. Olaf (72-68). The Oles have since dropped out of the D3hoops.com Top-25 entirely. The Johnnies' only loss of the year was a 70-64 road defeat at Carleton on December 2 in the MIAC opener, although the team has won four straight since and is 3-1 in league play.

Alex Schmitt and Mitchell Kuck provide the scoring punch, averaging 18.2 and 17.0 points as a duo while Schmitt has buried 26 three-pointers at a .473 clip and Kuck leads the team with 48 assists and 13 steals. Tyler Weiss does the damage inside, leading the team with 8.7 rebounds per game while converting 64.3 percent from the floor in averaging 12.3 points. Joe Reisinger gives the Johnnies four players in double-figures with 11.3 points while adding 6.3 rebounds. The Johnnies average 78.9 points per game and are shooting 51.2 percent from the floor on the season.