ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball (3-11, 0-8 NSIC) provided the strongest performance of the NSIC season against #2 Augustana (12-1, 9-0 NSIC) on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center, but came up short 88-75. It was Augustana's closest game in Northern Sun play as the Vikings had won every other game by at least 24 points.

Junior guard Diallo Powell (St. Paul, Minn.) led Concordia with 23 points and nine rebounds, shooting 9-15 from the floor and 3-5 from three-point range, also dishing out three assists. Senior guard Cole Olstad added 15 points and five rebounds, knocking down a pair of three-pointers with three assists.

The Vikings were led by Daniel Jansen's 21 points and eight rebounds although Concordia frustrated him to 5-15 field goal shooting and three turnovers. He countered by making 10-3 at the foul line and dishing out four assists. Alex Richter scored 20 points on 8-11 shooting including 3-5 from the arc and Casey Schilling had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds along with five steals. In the first meeting, point guard Jordan Spencer had 11 assists to one turnover but tonight Concordia held him to a 3-2 assist-turnover mark and 1-6 shooting.

The Golden Bears will look for a similar effort but different result tomorrow night at 6 p.m. against a Wayne State squad that fell to 3-11 overall and 1-8 in the Northern Sun with an 86-81 loss at Minnesota State.

Last season in December in St. Paul, the Golden Bears provided a strong test for a nationally-ranked Vikings squad, as well with Augustana prevailing 65-59 in a closely contested game.

In tonight's game, Concordia and Augustana played to nine ties and 14 lead changes in the first half as the teams went toe-to-toe once again at Gangelhoff Center.

But unlike last season's defensive slugfest, the two teams came ready to score points in bunches. In the first three and a half minutes, each team had already scored 10 points with Concordia holding a 23-20 lead just past the midway point of the half as redshirt freshman reserve guard Matt Ambriz assisted on back-to-back baskets by Bryndan Matthews and Mike Yahnke for their second three-point advantage.

Ambriz dished out five assists off the bench, adding five points. Matthews had eight points, seven rebounds and three assists while Yahnke had nine points and three rebounds.

After a dry spell by each side, freshmen reserve forward Brandon McRoy tipped in an Olstad miss for a five point lead, 25-20 which was Concordia's largest advantage of the night.

The Vikings responded with five straight points before the teams went back-and-forth the rest of the half. Late in the half, Augustana was able to break a 33-33 tie with under three minutes to play by going into the break ahead 41-37.

Multiple players on each side were sent to the bench with two fouls in a game that had intensity from the opening tip. Concordia held Augustana to just 41.9 percent (13-31) shooting including 33.3 percent (5-15) three-point shooting. The Vikings entered play hitting 49.3 percent from the year and 43.5 percent from the arc on the season, averaging 92.8 points per game.

The second half had another flurry of scoring early as Olstad finished in the lane on the opening possession 21 seconds into play, but the Vikings sprinted out to a 12-0 run over the next two minutes to take the first double-digit lead, 53-39 which would be their largest advantage until the final minute.

The Golden Bears charged a few minutes later, using a 12-1 run as five different players scored, including three-pointers by Yahnke and Ambriz to trim it to three, 59-56 with 11:18 to go.

Just over a minute later, Powell dropped in a jumper to follow an Olstad three that brought Concordia within two, 63-61 with 9:34 left.

But the Golden Bears never had a possession with a chance to tie or take the lead the rest of the way as Richter converted just seven seconds later in the lane on a quick possession.

From there, the two offenses went stagnant for nearly two minutes when the Vikings put together a possession that featured three offensive rebounds with Schilling finally converting the fourth shot attempt to put Augie ahead by six with under eight minutes left.

While the Golden Bears shot 50.0 percent (15-30) from the field and 60.0 percent (6-10) from the arc in the second half, Augustana's 11-2 edge in second chance scoring 18 more free throw attempts (21-to-3) proved that the Vikings were able to hold their physical play for the full 40 minutes.

On the night, Concordia out-shot Augie 45.3 percent (29-64) to 43.5 percent (27-62) from the floor and 43.8 percent (7-16) to 28.0 percent (7-25) from the arc. But the Vikings outscored the Golden Bears 27-10 at the stripe with 21 more free throw attempts (35-to-14), forced 17 turnovers which led to a 17-7 advantage in points off turnovers and held a 19-10 edge in second chance scoring despite a relatively even 13-10 offensive rebounding margin.