ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (4-11, 1-8 NSIC) picked up its first Northern Sun win of the season with a 69-64 victory over Wayne State (3-12, 1-9 NSIC) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears scored off the opening tip, with senior Shea Mandli aggressively tipping it into Concordia's frontcourt where freshman Bryndan Matthews scooped it up and layed it in four seconds into the contest. After a defensive stop, senior Mike Yahnke scored in the post on a feed from junior Diallo Powell for a 4-0 lead.

Yahnke registered his second career double-double and first in his career in a Northern Sun contest, scoring 13 points with 10 rebounds (five offensive). Matthews and senior Cole Olstad each scored 14 points, with Matthews collecting six rebounds while Olstad filled the stat sheet with five rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Wayne State was led by Vance Janssen's 21 points including 5-8 three-point shooting while Jordan Cornelius had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four assists while hitting 4-7 from the arc. Concordia held WSC scoring leader Matt Thomas, averaging 17.4 per game coming in, to seven points and six turnovers while shooting 2-6 from the field and fouling out in 19 minutes.

Although Concordia led for nearly every second of the night, Wayne State was able to stay within reach despite Concordia pushing the lead into double digits for a healthy portion of the middle of the game.

The Golden Bears led by as many as 15 points in the first half, swelling it to 33-18 on a Yahnke layup with 3:30 to play before the break. Wayne State was able to close out the half strong on a 9-2 run to make it an eight point game, however.

In the second half, Wayne State continued to narrow the lead by scoring the first five points to make it a 35-32 game just over a minute in. Concordia was able to push the game back to double figures, leading 47-35 at the 15:03 mark and kept the lead at or above nine until under five minutes to play. Leading 58-46 with 8:10 left in the game, the two teams played two minutes of scoreless basketball with Concordia going over three minutes without a point.

Concordia still held a 61-51 lead with 4:40 to play when the Wildcats made a late move, cutting it to 65-62 with 1:49 to go. WSC had a game-tying three-pointer off the mark by Janssen with 1:01 to play with Yahnke securing the rebound and an offensive rebound on the ensuing possession by Matthews with 31 seconds forced the Wildcats to foul. Olstad made his two free throws to give Concordia a five point lead and WSC didn't have a chance to tie or take the lead in the closing 20 seconds.

Concordia went into the post early and often throughout the game with a 24-6 scoring advantage in the paint in the first half and an 18-12 edge in second chance scoring on the night. The aggressive play led to a 16-10 margin on the offensive glass and a 23-15 edge in free throw attempts. The Golden Bears also flipped its turnover disadvantage from a night ago in the loss to Augustana by forcing 19 and committing just 13, leading to a 19-12 margin on turnovers.

Joining Olstad with four steals was freshman reserve Brandon McRoy, who played 16 key minutes, also adding a block. Mandli added nine points, six rebounds (four offensive), two blocks and a steal while dishing out three assists to compensate for a down shooting night (3-11). Josh Monroy contributed six points and five rebounds (three offensive) while getting seven shots in nine minutes. Concordia's four forwards combined for 30 of the team's 63 shot attempts on the night.

Wayne State kept the game close by hitting 11 three-pointers (11-24, 45.8%) while Concordia used its focus down low, only hitting 5-15 from the arc (33.3%).