ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-3) grinded out a hard-fought 85-80 win over Michigan Tech (2-4) on Monday night to remain unbeaten at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears won the battle in the low block as they outscored MTU in the paint by a margin of 46-26. CSP also took advantage of their depth with the freshman pair of Max Keefe and Sam Siganos both scoring in double figures to give the Golden Bears a 25-8 edge in bench points.
 
CSP continued to be efficient from the field as they hit 55.8% (29-52), including an incredible 71.4% (15-21) in the second half. The Golden Bears also hit 73.3% (22-30) from the free throw line.
 
Keefe set a new career high with 12 points on a perfect 4-4 from the floor and 3-3 from the line in a productive 17 minutes while Siganos put up a career best 11 points on 3-6 shooting and 4-5 from the charity stripe in the win.
 
Four of the five starters joined the two off the bench in double figures as Bryndan Matthews led the way with 17 points and nine rebounds while Matt Ambriz, Ahmad Newsome and Diallo Powell all scored at least 11 as well.
 
Ambriz hit 3-5 from deep to finish with 12 points and Newsome added 12 points with five rebounds and five assists while Powell finished with 11 points and five boards on the night.
 
Freshman guard Tommy Lucca was solid in the loss for Michigan Tech with 20 points as their starting five scored in double figures to combine for 72 of the 80 points for the team.
 
Concordia took the early lead as they jumped ahead 8-4, aided by a pair of buckets from Brown, before the lead changed hands five times to go along with six ties the rest of the half. The Huskies jumped ahead 12-11 a few minutes later as neither team was able to build a lead larger than four over the next ten minutes. The Golden Bears pulled ahead 25-21 with 7:16 to go, but a 12-2 run on the other end led to Michigan Tech building their largest lead of the half at 33-27 at the 4:13 mark. The Huskies maintained that lead the rest of the half as CSP pulled within a possession on several occasions before MTU took a 41-36 into the break.
 
Michigan Tech added to their lead in the opening minutes of the second half as their advantage hit seven at 49-42 with 17:09 to play, but Concordia began chipping away from there. CSP scored the next five points and eventually pulled back in front at 55-54 as the Golden Bears began to take control down low. Just past the midway point of the half, CSP's lead hit five for the first time all day at 61-56 before the Huskies began chipping away from there. Their lead fluctuated between one and two possessions for the next five minutes until Michigan Tech tied up the game at 73-73 with 3:40 left on the clock.
 
The two teams traded the next few baskets before a three from Lucca gave MTU the lead back at 78-77 with 2:17, but Concordia snatched it right back for good on a Newsome layup just 26 seconds later. The Huskies had several chances to tie it up down the stretch before CSP iced it at the line to close out the 85-80 victory.
 
Concordia is set to begin NSIC action this weekend as they hit the road to #25 Augustana on Friday and Wayne State on Saturday.