ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (13-15, 10-12 NSIC) is surging into postseason play, winning its sixth consecutive game to close out the regular season with a 78-63 victory over Sioux Falls (16-12, 11-11 NSIC) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.

The Golden Bears are 10-4 in their last 14 games and 7-1 in their last eight and closed out their home slate winning seven of eight at Gangelhoff Center.

The strong finish propelled Concordia up the standings, securing the sixth seed in the NSIC Sanford Health Basketball Tournament with a road trip to Bismarck, N.D. to face U-Mary (17-11, 12-10 NSIC) on Wednesday, February 24 at 7 p.m.

The Golden Bears defeated the Marauders 76-72 in Bismarck on Saturday, February 6 for their first road win in NSIC play to start a current three game road winning streak.


CU Men's BB vs. Univ. of Sioux Falls 2.20.2016 - Images by Justin Oakman

Redshirt freshman Matt Ambriz had the hot hand again for Concordia, scoring 19 points on 7-11 shooting with 4-7 three-point shooting. Freshman Bryndan Matthews added 16 points and seven rebounds, shooting 5-9 from the field and 6-6 at the stripe.

On senior night, Cole Olstad added 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists with a block and a steal to enhance his all-around portfolio, and made all eight free throws as well. Shea Mandli chipped in 14 points and four rebounds and Mike Yahnke collected six rebounds.

Concordia avenged a 110-90 loss to the Cougars in Sioux Falls on Friday, January 22 when USF buried 20 three-pointers. Tonight, Concordia held Sioux Falls to six three-pointers at a 26.1 percent clip in 23 attempts.

While the difference in defensive pressure on the perimeter held the Cougars cold from the arc, Concordia put together a strong all-around effort to build the 15-point win.

Concordia shot 50.0 percent (26-52) while holding the Cougars under 40 percent (.390, 23-59). The Golden Bears also got to the foul line more frequently with 10 more attempts and converted at a high 83.3 percent rate (20-24) to pick up an additional nine points from the stripe.

In addition to the strong shooting differences, Concordia held a decisive 39-27 edge on the glass and managed to pick up more offensive rebounds (10-8) despite fewer misses due to the shooting differences.

Lastly, Concordia held a 34-26 scoring advantage in the paint while equaling USF's six three-pointers in eight fewer attempts.

The game started tight with four ties and two lead changes in the first eight-plus minutes when the Golden Bears sprinted away with a 13-0 run to break a 13-13 tie for a 26-13 lead with under nine minutes to play.

It was Olstad who started the run with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer early in the spurt, and Ambriz who capped it with a three-pointer as each scored five points while Mandli added a three-point play.

Concordia maintained the double-digit lead for nearly the rest of the night, only allowing Sioux Falls under 10 points twice, 60-51 and 62-53 in the last seven minutes. But the Golden Bears answered the call each time, pushing it back to double-digits.

Sioux Falls had three players reach double-figures, Clint Thomas with 12 points and Drew Guebert and Mack Johnson with 10 points each. Just like in last night's win over SMSU where the three leading scorers also struggled from the field, tonight USF's leading trio combined to shoot 11-34.