BAYAMON, P.R. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (0-2) dropped their second straight with a 79-67 loss to UPR Rio Piedras (1-0) on Saturday afternoon.
 
Despite holding a 41-36 edge in rebounding (10-6 on the offensive glass) and hitting 10-20 (50.0%) from beyond the arc, the Golden Bears were unable to pull out their first win of the season. Points off turnovers was once again a major factor as UPRRP turned 18 CSP turnovers into 26 points while the Golden Bears forced 11 turnovers and scored 13 in the ensuing possession. The Gallitos also held an advantage in the paint (30-22) and shot 43.5% (27-62) compared to the Golden Bears' 40.0% (22-55) on the day.
 
In the loss, Matt Ambriz came to life for Concordia as he connected on 6-9 from downtown to lead all scorers with 18 points in his 26 minutes of action off the bench. His 18 points fell one short of his career high set last season against USF while the six threes made were a new career best.
 
Diallo Powell and Bryndan Matthews also finished in double figures as the pair reached the mark for the second day in a row. Both knocked down 5-11 from the floor as Powell finished with 15 points and Matthews had 14. Powell also added seven boards, five steals, four assists and three threes made while Matthews chipped in four boards.
 
Brandon McRoy and Cole Peters provided some solid minutes off the bench as McRoy picked up seven points on a perfect 3-3 shooting while Peters had five points, six rebounds, a steal and block in just eight minutes.
 
UPR Rio Piedras featured a balanced attack as five players hit double figures and eight finished with at least six points. Esteban Cordero led the team with 13 points five rebounds and five assists while Krystian Medina double-doubled with 12 points and 10 boards.
 
After an even first four minutes that saw the Golden Bears down 7-6, the Gallitos caught fire from deep as they buried three straight threes to quickly push their lead to double digits. Concordia responded with a pair of their three of their own, but five straight the other way made it 21-12 in favor of UPRRP at the midway point of the half.
 
The Golden Bears started chipping away from there as they pulled within a pair at 28-26 with under four to play in the half, but two more deep balls for the Gallitos had it back to eight. That would be all that CSP would allow in the first 20 minutes as they closed out strong with an impressive 11-0 run sparked by Peters, McRoy and Ambriz gave Concordia a 37-34 advantage heading into the locker room.
 
That lead quickly disappeared in the second half as 11 of the first 12 points went in favor of UPR Rio Piedras to give them a 45-38 lead. Concordia cut the lead down to a single possession on quite a few occasions the rest of the way, but UPRRP held off the charge and maintained an advantage for the final 18:17 of the game. The Gallito lead reached nine at 55-46 before an 8-2 run got the Golden Bears right back in it at 57-54 with 10 minutes left. After UPRRP built their lead back up a bit, CSP pulled within just two with 6:57 left at 62-60 but they were unable to get over the hump as they weren't able to pull any closer down the stretch. A pair of threes from Powell cut it back to three at 70-67 with 2:47 left, but the Golden Bears were held off the board the rest of the way as the Gallitos iced the 79-67 win.
 
Concordia closes out play in Puerto Rico tomorrow as they take on University of Metropolitana at noon.