ST. Paul, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-3, 0-0 NSIC) opens up NSIC play on the road this weekend as they travel to #21 Augustana (5-1, 1-0 NSIC) on Friday and Wayne State (1-5, 0-1 NSIC) on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
On Monday night, Concordia wrapped up the non-conference season with their third consecutive win by knocking off Michigan Tech 85-80 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.

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.

AUGIE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears meet the Vikings for the 22nd time in the all-time series as CSP holds a record of 5-16 in the previous 21 meetings. The Vikings have dominated the series in the recent past with nine straight wins over Concordia dating back to CSP's 81-77 win on St. Paul on Jan. 3, 2012. The Golden Bears have struggled in Sioux Falls as they have dropped eight of nine there with the lone win coming back on Dec. 28, 2004.

LAST MEETING VS AUGIE
Back on January 8th, Concordia gave then-#2 Augustana a tough test in an 88-75 loss in St. Paul.

Junior guard Diallo Powell 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.

Concordia and Augustana played to nine ties and 14 lead changes in the first half as the teams went toe-to-toe at Gangelhoff Center for the second year in a row.

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.

ABOUT THE VIKINGS
The Vikings, last season's NCAA Division II National Champions, have gotten off to a 5-1 start on the season.
 
After losing their top three scorers from last year's title team, the Vikings have featured different leading scorers in four of six game so far. Leading the way so far has been junior guard Jordan Spencer. Spencer was just named the NSIC Player of the Week after averaging 17.0 points, 9.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds in Augie's two wins last week. Graduate transfer Mike Busack, who transfered in from Minnesota State, has also put up double figures with 11.2 points and 5.5 boards on the year.
 
Last Monday, Augustana kicked off league play with a 94-87 win in overtime on their home court against Wayne State. Jordan Spencer led the Vikings in scoring with 23 points to go along with nine assists and four rebounds while Augie had four players finish in double figures.

WSC SERIES HISTORY
Concordia enters the weekend with a winning record against the Wildcats as the Golden Bears have won 18 of 35 meetings in the  series. After a strong stretch saw CSP win nine of 10 meetings from 2006-2011, the Golden Bears have regained their edge in the last few years with three wins in the last four meetings. The series has been heavily tilted in favor of the home team as CSP has gone 12-6 at home but they have gone 6-11 at Wayne.

LAST MEETING VS WSC
Back on January 9th in St. Paul, Concordia grabbed their first win of last year's conference season with a 69-64 victory over Wayne State.

Mike 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). Bryndan 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.
 
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.

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%).

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
After winning their season opener 70-57 against Missouri Western, the Wildcats have hit a rough patch with five straight losses heading into the weekend.
 
The WSC lineup has been consistent throughout the early portions of the year as they have used the same starting five in each of their first six games. The trio of Kendall Jacks, Matt Thomas and Jordan Cornelius have all registered in with double figures in scoring as Jacks' 14.0 points per game leads the team.
 
Last Monday, the Wildcats dropped a heart-breaker with a 94-87 overtime loss at Augustana in the NSIC opener. WSC missed all six shots in overtime as thet Vikings pulled away for the win.  Jordan Cornelius was impressive in the loss as his 21 points on 8-14 were a team-high.

NSIC LEADERS
Throughout the early portion of the season, the Golden Bears have had several players rank near the top of the league in different statistical categories so far.

Senior guard Diallo Powell has been a jack-of-all-trades for CSP as he currently ranks in the top-25 in the NSIC in a staggering nine different categories. Powell has been especially good on the defensive glass as his 6.0 defensive rebounds per game rank fifth while his 1.5 steals per game rank seventh.

Bryndan Matthews has been equally as impressive filling up the stat sheet as he also has put up top-25 numbers in nine categories as well. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate so far as his 8.5 rebounds per game rank third in the league (90th in the nation) while his 6.8 defensive boards per game are even better at second (51st in the nation).

Ahmad Newsome and Matt Ambriz also rank near the top in their respective categories as Newsome sits in third in assists with 5.5 per game and Ambriz sits in third in threes made with 3.6 per game. Ambriz also ranks sixth in the conference in three-point percentage at an efficient 54.5%.

MILESTONE WATCH
Despite featuring a roster that features no players that have played more than two seasons for the Golden Bears, CSP has had several players pile up stats early in their careers.

Matt Ambriz leads the way in that regard as his career 47.3% percentage from beyond the arc represents the highest mark in program history. After putting up the seventh-best single-season mark at 45.8% last season, the sophomore guard has turned it up to a new level this year at 54.5% to turn his career total to 69-146 through 33 games in his career.

Bryndan Matthews has already made a mark in 34 games as his career 30.6 minutes per game are eight-most at Concordia. During that span, Matthews has compiled 413 points, 87 shy of 500, as he also recently surpassed 200 career rebounds as well.

Senior Diallo Powell, who transferred in before last season, has been solid from the free throw line as his career 75.7% (84-11) ranks 15th at CSP. He has also totalled 357 points, 170 boards and 45 steals in his 33 career games. His 29.5 minutes per game also ranks 12th.