SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Concordia-St. Paul (2-4, 0-2 NSIC) wasn't able to recover from a 14-0 deficit in the opening six minutes of play on Saturday night in a 104-66 loss at #3 Augustana (6-1, 3-0 NSIC) at Sioux Falls Arena.

Concordia will play its first conference home games on Friday and Saturday at Gangelhoff Center against Winona State and Upper Iowa. Saturday's game against Upper Iowa will be Concordia's Day of Heroes event.

While the Golden Bears fell into the early trap against one of the top teams in Division II, they rallied back quickly with a 7-0 run over the next minute of play, converting five of six free throws along with a Mike Yahnke bucket in the paint.

Yahnke had eight points and three assists on 4-8 shooting in 28 minutes off the bench.

Concordia kept the game within reach throughout much of the rest of the half with Bryndan Matthews finishing on the break to make it a six point game, 27-21 with 8:35 to play before the break.

Matthews was a spark off the bench as he led the team with 13 points on 5-11 shooting along with four rebounds and three steals in 27 minutes.

Augustana closed out the half hot, though with a 14-5 spurt for a 17-point lead which was the halftime margin, 52-35.

From there, Concordia wouldn't come within single digits the rest of the night as Augustana led by as many as 38 late in the contest.

The Vikings were led by Alex Richter's 22 points including four three-pointers while Casey Schilling and Daniel Jansen each had 17 points while combining to shoot 16-17 at the foul line.

The Golden Bears had six players with between eight and 13 points including Diallo Powell with nine points and a team-high six rebounds. Steven Kragt made an impact off the bench with nine points on 3-6 shooting as well.