ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (1-3) bounced back in a big way on Thursday night as they cruised to a 70-58 win on Thursday night over the Bemidji State (0-3) at Gangelhoff Center.
 
CSP made it 10 straight wins against the Beavers in St. Paul as they improved to 16-14 in the all-time series. The win also gave Concordia 15 wins in the past 19 meetings, including four in a row overall.
 
Concordia's defense made life tough on the Beavers as they held them to just 58 points on 31.7% (19-60) shooting and 28.0% (7-25) from three. The offense was equally impressive as the Golden Bears knocked down 50.0% (29-58) from the field and 35.0% (7-20) from deep in the win.
 
The Golden Bears dominated in several other areas as they held a 39-32 edge on the glass as well as a massive 38-20 edge in the paint. CSP also picked up a 9-0 advantage in fast break points in an all-around solid effort.
 
Senior Diallo Powell and freshman Ted Brown provided a formidable inside-outside duo as both picked up 16 points on an efficient night from the floor. Powell shot 6-10 and 3-4 from beyond the arc as he also chipped in seven boards and four assists for a full line while Brown was a perfect 7-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the line to go along with six boards on the night.
 
Matt Ambriz also hit double figures with 11 points on 4-9 shooting as well as 3-6 from three-point range while Bryndan Matthews filled up the stat sheet with nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.
 
Jai'Vionne Green provided a bright spot for the Beavers as he led all scorers with 20 points on 7-15 shooting to go along with eight boards in 37 minutes of play. Sharif Black added 10 points and six rebounds in the loss.
 
The Golden Bears got off to a fast start with a 10-5 run through the first 2:15 before the Beavers answered back with eight straight points to build a lead of their own. That lead would be short-lived as CSP jumped back ahead at 12:25 and took the lead for good at 19-18 with 11:09 to go in the half.
 
With the lead still at just one at 22-21 just past the midway point of the opening half, Concordia rattled off an extended 16-4 run spanning seven minutes to give them their biggest lead of the half at 13. The Beavers responded, however, and scored the final six points before the break to make it 38-31 heading into the locker room.
 
The Golden Bears were efficient from the field in the first 20 minutes as they knocked down 16-28 from the floor and 5-13 from deep to aid their effort. CSP also held a 19-13 edge on the glass in the half.
 
Concordia completely blew it open to begin the second half with a suffocating 15-0 run to turn a seven point lead into a 22 point lead at 53-31 less than five minutes in. The lead would grow to as many at 24 at 57-33 with 12:34 to play as the Golden Bears remained in control the rest of the way.
 
With the game pretty much in hand, the Beavers managed to battle back to close the gap from 24 down to 10 at 65-55 with 1:28 to play, capped by a 10-0 run over four minutes, but it was too late as CSP closed it out strong. The lead wouldn't hit single digits as the Golden Bears finished off the 70-58 win.
 
Concordia will look to carry the momentum into next Tuesday, November 22^nd against Augsburg at 7 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.