ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (8-14, 5-11 NSIC) scored a key weekend sweep by defeating Northern State (12-10, 8-8 NSIC) 84-76 on Saturday evening at Gangelhoff Center. Senior guard Cole Olstad scored a season-high 29 points and moved into fourth on Concordia's career scoring list with 1,380 points, surpassing Brian Jamros (2001-05, 1,371).

Olstad was 10-18 from the field, buried three three-pointers and had four assists.

Concordia will open a four game road stand with its longest trip of the year next Friday night at Minot State before facing the University of Mary next Saturday in a road trip to North Dakota.

The opening minutes featured six lead changes and a tie as the teams jostled for position in the contest with Concordia claiming a 14-13 advantage just over five minutes into play.

Northern State countered by burying three three-pointers in an 11-0 run over a two minute period to take a 24-14 lead and extended the lead to 12 a few possessions later.

In the first seven minutes of action, NSU knocked down six three-pointers and opened the contest 9-13 from the field while Concordia started slow at 5-13.

But the Bears clawed back at the Wolves, going into the break trailing by five (44-39) as Olstad scored 15 of his game-high 29 before the break while redshirt freshman Matt Ambriz added 12 of his 16 points in the first half.

Ambriz had a strong weekend for Concordia, scoring 28 points on seven three-pointers including a 3-4 three-point shooting night tonight on 5-8 overall shooting from the floor with a 3-0 assist-turnover ratio.

In the second half, Concordia started pounding the paint as Mike Yahnke scored six early points before feeding Shea Mandli down low for a pair of buckets to bring the margin down to one, 48-47 and 52-51 in the first four minutes.

While those were Yahnke's only six points of the night, he would also add three assists and was an efficient 3-4 from the field. Mandli turned it on in the second half with 12 points and 10 rebounds after the break. He finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds, also dishing four assists for a 10-assist weekend.

The game was tight from there when freshman Bryndan Matthews buried a jumper from just inside the arc on the wing to give Concordia a 65-64 lead with nine minutes to play. Matthews scored nine points, adding six rebounds and a pair of steals for the Golden Bears.

After a six lead change, one tie first half the teams remained close in the second half with five more lead changes and three more ties down the stretch.

After the Wolves reclaimed a 71-69 lead with under five minutes to go, Concordia surged to a 9-0 run with four different players scoring during the stretch for a 78-71 lead with 1:20 to go.

The big second half effort included a 45-32 scoring margin on 61.5 percent (16-26) shooting while holding the Wolves to 35.7 percent (10-28) second half shooting.

After NSU's strong start with six three-pointers in seven minutes, Concordia held NSU to just five three-pointers the rest of the night and were just 36.7 percent (11-30) from the arc in the game.