ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (15-8, 11-6 NSIC) opens up a three-game week on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. against Minnesota State (18-5, 13-4 NSIC) at Taylor Center in Mankato. It will be a matchup of the second and third place teams in the NSIC South Division, and the third and fifth ranked teams in the overall NSIC standings.

LAST MEETING: CU 75, MSU 73
Concordia-St. Paul defeated then 10th-ranked Minnesota State at Gangelhoff Center before the holiday break on December 20 behind 67.4 percent shooting (31-46) and 75 percent (18-24) first half shooting. Concordia also connected on seven of its nine three-pointers in the victory. Nuni Omot led the charge for Concordia with 19 points on perfect 8-8 shooting in 39 minutes, adding five rebounds, a three-pointer and four dunks.

Minnesota State was led by Assem Marei's 18 points on 7-10 shooting with seven rebounds and three blocks. Concordia limited him to 24 minutes, forcing him to the bench with two fouls early in the first half as Concordia opened up a 12-point lead (44-32) at the break. Zach Monaghan contributed 13 points with 12 assists but struggled to 4-13 shooting and 3-10 three-point shooting. Concordia held the Mavericks to 43.1 percent (25-58) shooting and 41.9 percent (13-31) three-point shooting.

The win snapped a three game losing streak for Concordia while halting MSU's nine game winning streak.

SERIES HISTORY: MSU 16, CONCORDIA 6
Concordia snapped a four game losing streak to the Mavericks with the December 20 win at Gangelhoff Center, but the two teams have split the last eight games in the series. Overall, MSU leads 16-6 and is 9-2 against Concordia at Taylor Center including to straight wins there. Concordia's last road win over the Mavericks was December 9, 2011, a 79-73 victory.

INVADING TAYLOR CENTER
The Mavericks are 10-0 at home this year at Taylor Center with nine of those wins being decided by at least 11 points and an average margin of victory of +17.7. The lone exception was an 85-81 win over St. Cloud State on January 2. Last weekend, the Mavericks were tested by U-Mary who held the lead in the second half before MSU pulled away late on Friday night. Meanwhile, Concordia has developed into a tough road team after a rocky 0-4 start including a close loss at Division I Milwaukee in the non-conference. But since, Concordia is 4-1 in road games including the program's first-ever win at Northern State. The only road loss in the last five games was at MSU Moorhead, ranked #7 in the country at the time and also undefeated in its home gym.

LAST WEEKEND: CONCORDIA SPLITS FINAL NSIC NORTH WEEKEND
The Golden Bears closed out its contests against NSIC North Division teams with a split last weekend, falling 99-91 in a dramatic double overtime loss to Minot State before defeating U-Mary 75-64 to finish 6-2 against the division. In the loss to Minot State, the Beavers caught fire from long range, hitting 51.9 percent (14-27) while Concordia remained cold from the outside at 26.7 percent (8-30). On Saturday, Concordia's defense clamped down on U-Mary in the second half by holding the Marauders to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and the arc to pull away for the double-digit win.

The win over U-Mary improved Concordia to 10-2 at home on the year as the Golden Bears are winners of 10 of their last 13 contests overall which began with the 75-73 win over Minnesota State on December 20.

In the two games, Nuni Omot averaged 17.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while making 84.2 percent at the foul line, getting there often as he made 16 of 19.

Terez VanPelt averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 assists and 4.0 rebounds while making 90.9 percent (10-11) at the stripe. He scored 22 points in the loss to Minot State, his first 20-point game of the year and had the last five points in 13 seconds of the first overtime to tie the game, making three free throws with 4.6 seconds to send it to a second overtime.

Josh Monroy produced his best weekend as a Golden Bear, reaching double-figures in scoring twice in a row for the first time as he shot 64.3 (9-14) for the weekend. He also had his first double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds against Minot State. He had a season-high three blocked shots in the win over U-Mary as well.

INDIVIDUAL LEAGUE LEADERS TO WATCH
Tuesday's game will feature a number of players ranking among the best in the Northern Sun statistical leaders. MSU features the league's second-ranked scorer and leading rebounder in Assem Marei at 19.2 points and 8.5 rebounds with the fifth-ranked shooting percentage at 58.7. They also have the league's top distributor in Zach Monaghan at 8.4 assists per game, adding 14.4 points to rank 12th. Concordia counters with Cole Olstad at 13.6 points (15th) in a balanced offense that features three in double-figures and a seven averaging at least five per game. Nuni Omot leads the glass with 5.9 rebounds (10th) and is ninth in shooting percentage on the year at 57.1. Terez VanPelt leads the club and is sixth in the league with 4.2 assists per game with all three Golden Bears averaging in double-figures in scoring. Olstad is also third in the league in free throw percentage (84.2) and steals (1.7) while Keith Crockett is fifth in the league with 1.6 steals per game.

OFFENSE VS. DEFENSE, PART II
Concordia's second-ranked scoring defense (67.1) and league-best field goal percentage defense (39.9) will be tested against the fourth ranked scoring offense from MSU (81.1) and third ranked field goal percentage offense (49.2). The Mavericks hold a +11.3 season scoring margin average while Concordia has built its winning season on a tighter margin of +5.3 with a 6-1 record in games decided by 5-points or less. The Golden Bears are also second in the league in rebounding (37.2) and third in steals (6.9) while MSU is fifth in rebounding (35.6) and 13th in steals (5.2).

NSIC STANDINGS TIGHTENING UP
Concordia still holds the third spot in the NSIC South and fifth spot in the NSIC overall standings. They lead St. Cloud State by a half game in the overall standings and lead Upper Iowa by one and a half games in the South Division. Minnesota State leads Northern State by a half game in the overall standings and holds a two game lead over Concordia in the South Division. The NSIC Sanford Health Basketball Tournament is a 16-team field with the first round pairings determined on cross-divisional seeding. If the tournament started today, Concordia would host Minnesota Crookston in the first round with the winner facing the Northern State/Sioux Falls winner at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. By comparison, MSU is slated to host either Bemidji State or U-Mary in the first round with the winner playing the winner of St. Cloud State against Winona State or SMSU.

GAME NOTES COMING SOON
This week's full game notes will be released on Thursday afternoon in advance of the weekend home games against Upper Iowa (Friday, 8pm) and Winona State (Saturday, 6pm).