ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (4-11, 1-8 NSIC) remains home this weekend as Minnesota Crookston (3-11, 1-9 NSIC) and Bemidji State (7-7, 4-6 NSIC) visit the Gangelhoff Center.
 
UMC SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have dominated the all-time series against Minnesota Crookston as they have claimed 21 wins in the 25 meetings between the two schools. Concordia has been even more successful against the Golden Eagles over the past few seasons as they have won the last eight contests dating back to 2008. In 12 meetings in St. Paul, CSP holds a record of 10-2.
 
LAST MEETING VS UMC
Last year in Crookston, Concordia pulled away late to claim a 72-53 win on the road.
 
Cole Olstad led Concordia with 21 points for his second straight 20-plus point game. He made 4-5 from three-point range and 6-8 from the field, adding four rebounds and two blocked shots. His hot shooting led Concordia to a 10-22 three-point shooting evening, hitting five in each half while holding UMC to 28.0 percent (7-25) three-point shooting on its home floor.
 
CSP used a 17-5 run spanning 7:40 that turned an 18-17 lead into the 35-22 at the half. Concordia continued to add to that lead in the second half as they led by as many as 21 before closing out the 19 point win.
 
BSU SERIES HISTORY
The series between Concordia and Bemidji State is an even 14-14 heading into the 29^th meeting this weekend. After the Beavers claimed 10 of the first 11 meetings, the Golden Bears have turned the tables with 13 wins in the last 17 meetings. In St. Paul, the Golden Bears have rattled off seven straight wins en route to collecting a record of 9-4 at home against BSU.
 
LAST MEETING VS BSU
Last year, Concordia-St. Paul was able to grind out a come from behind road victory 70-66 at Bemidji State.
 
The Golden Bears trailed by as many as 11 early in the second half (19:46) before opening up a seven point lead by outscoring BSU 32-14 over nearly 12 minutes to take a 61-54 lead with 7:23 to play in the game. BSU only had one possession with a chance to tie or take the lead in the final nine minutes, missing a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:03 to play before Nuni Omot scored five points, hitting a three-pointer late in the shot clock with 26 seconds left and making two free throws with under eight seconds left to seal the win. He finished with 14 points on the night.
 
In the win, Concordia senior guard Terez VanPelt scored eight points to become the third player in program history to reach 1,400 points, joining all-time scoring leader Craig Heiman (2006-10, 1,768 pts) and Jeff Chamberlain (1993-97, 1,443 pts). VanPelt played 36 minutes, dishing out two assists with one turnover as Concordia turned the ball over only eight times while forcing 13.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Concordia split the weekend at home with a competitive 88-75 loss to #2 Augustana and a 69-64 victory over Wayne State.
 
The Golden Bears featured a balanced attack offensively as four different players averaged double figures and five different players averaged at least 8.0 points per game on the weekend. Leading the charge was Diallo Powell and Mike Yahnke as Powell averaged 15.0 points and 5.5 boards while Yahnke added 11.0 points and 6.5 rebounds. Powell shined against Augustana with 23 points and nine rebounds and Yahnke put up a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Wayne State.
 
CHASING HISTORY
Senior Cole Olstad continued his ascent up the scoring leaderboard at Concordia as he passed Justin Vandenberg and Julius Clausen to move into eighth place all-time with 1,249. He sits just 46 points behind Kyle Timmer (1,295) for seventh, 87 points behind Wayne Coburn (1,336) for sixth and 91 points behind Michael O'Keefe (1,340) to move into the top-5.  Olstad also ranks fifth in three-pointers made (173) and steals (150), sixth in free throws made (268), seventh in rebounds (507), eighth in free throw percentage (.798), ninth in assists (204) and field goals made (404), 10^th in three-point percentage (.387) and 11^th in blocked shots (55).