ST. PAUL, Minn. - Concordia-St. Paul (13-15) opens NSIC Sanford Health Tournament play as the sixth seed from the NSIC South Division, and will play at NSIC North Division third seed U-Mary (17-11) on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck, N.D.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
The game will streamed online through the NSIC's streaming agreement with Stretch Internet and can be accessed through Concordia's live video portal hosted by Stretch Internet. Additionally, the game will be carried throughout the state of North Dakota by BEK Sports on BEK Prime. BEK Prime can be viewed throughout North Dakota on BEKTV (Ch. 1002), Midco (Ch. 593), Dish Network (Ch.24) and DirecTV (Ch. 26) in Western North Dakota. Visit www.bektel.com for complete cable and satellite channel listings. BEK Prime is also available over-the-air on KNDB Ch-26.1 and KNDM Ch-24.1 in Western North Dakota, and is available in Eastern North Dakota on KRDK Ch-4.1.

Audio of the game will also be streamed online through FOX Sports 710 with the voice of the Marauders, Rick Anthony calling the game in the Bismarck-Mandan area which is also accessible anywhere via the IHeartRadio app (search Fox Sports 710 AM).

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The winner of the first round games will advance to Sioux Falls, S.D. to play at the Sanford Pentagon in the quarterfinals on Saturday, February 27. The Concordia/Mary winner will play the Bemidji State/Minnesota State winner at 2:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, the CSP/UM and BSU/MSU winner will meet the top team from the MSU Moorhead/Wayne State and Upper Iowa/St. Cloud State contests on Monday, February 29 at noon. The semifinal winners will meet in the championship on Tuesday, March 1 at 5 p.m. with the winner receiving the NSIC's automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament, to be hosted at a campus site to be determined.

Tickets are available at the Marauders athletic office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 23 and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24. Tickets are also sold prior to the game on Wednesday at the arena when gates open at 6 p.m., an hour before tipoff. Ticket prices are set by the NSIC, $10 for adults and $2 for students.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears will be appearing in the NSIC Tournament for the 13th time, first eligible for the event in the 2002-03 season. The Golden Bears carry a 3-12 all-time record in the conference tournament including a 3-9 mark in opening round competition. Concordia is also 1-9 in tournament road games, with the only win coming in the 2004-05 season at Wayne State (93-84). The Golden Bears and Marauders have met once in NSIC Tournament play, with Concordia topping U-Mary 78-65 in last year's first round game when the seeding was reversed as Concordia was the South Division's third seed to U-Mary's sixth seed in the North Division.

The Golden Bears have yet to capture multiple wins in a conference tournament.

STRONG FINISH
Concordia is sprinting into the postseason with a season-long five game winning streak with a three game road winning streak included in that stretch. Concordia finished the year by going 7-1 in its last eight games and 10-4 over the final 14 games of the year after an 0-8 start to conference play. Concordia's five game winning streak is tied for the longest active streak in the conference with top seed Augustana. The 7-1 record in the final eight games is also only matched by Augie.

Meanwhile, U-Mary has had the opposite season in conference play as the Marauders opened league play 8-1 in their first nine games before dropping six straight in the middle of the season. After the skid, U-Mary has rebounded with a 4-3 record in the last seven games including wins in three of their last four entering postseason.

On the year, U-Mary has a 7-7 home record while Concordia enters the contest with a 4-9 road record with a win at U-Mary included in its current three game road winning streak.

SERIES HISTORY
Concordia has dominated the recent series history with U-Mary, winning the last six games between the teams with U-Mary's last win over Concordia coming in the 2011-12 season at Gangelhoff Center on December 3, 2011 (64-67). The Golden Bears have posted a 6-1 record at McDowell Activity Center in Bismarck against U-Mary with the only loss coming on January 23, 2010 in the 2009-10 season (68-75). Since, Concordia has claimed victory in four straight trips to North Dakota's capital city.

Overall, Concordia leads the series 12-6 entering the 19th meeting, and are 12-4 against U-Mary since the Marauders joined the NSIC in 2006-07. Prior to that, the teams hadn't met since the 1980-81 and 1984-85 seasons when both clubs were NAIA programs and Concordia was nicknamed the Comets.

LAST MEETING: CSP 76, U-Mary 72
Just two and a half weeks ago, Concordia picked up a 76-72 win in Bismarck to snap an eight game road losing streak for the team's first league road win. The road win opened up a current three game road winning streak to close out the regular season as part of the team's five game overall winning streak which is the longest of the season.

The Marauders bottled up returning All-NSIC second team performer Cole Olstad, holding him scoreless in six minutes of play in the first half as he picked up a third foul. He didn't re-enter the contest until 14:29 left in the second half and finished with 12 points, four assists (no turnovers), three rebounds and a block while making 4-6 from the field and 2-2 from three. He scored six points, had two rebounds and an assist in the final three minutes to spark the win. He converted his only two free throws with just four seconds left to turn a two point lead into a two possession game in the closing seconds.

The closely played game featured 14 ties and 16 lead changes with Concordia holding the game's largest lead five and a half minutes into play at just seven points (12-5), while U-Mary never led by more than four (27-23, 6:28/1st).

U-Mary went ahead late in the game 68-66 with under four minutes to play and after a scoreless minute of action Olstad set up Matt Ambriz for the go-ahead three-pointer. Olstad than converted a pair of layups with a defensive stop mixed in for a 7-0 run and a 73-68 lead with 1:40 left. Olstad also rebounded on U-Mary's game-tying three-point attempt with 22 seconds to go.

In addition to Olstad's play down the stretch putting Concordia over the top, senior Shea Mandli contributed 17 points and seven rebounds with four assists (one turnover), shooting 7-14 from the floor. Ambriz added 12 points as he connected on three three-pointers. Diallo Powell matched Mandli's 17 points in 37 minutes off the bench, adding six assists while making 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from the arc with five rebounds.

Bryndan Matthews gave the team a fifth player in double-figures with 13 points and six rebounds.

Concordia singed U-Mary's nets by hitting 50.0 percent (10-20) from the arc and 50.9 percent (28-55) from the field while U-Mary shot just 29.4 percent (5-17) from three and 37.3 percent (28-75) on its homecourt.

The Marauders were led by Devan Douglas with 21 points and seven rebounds while Isaac Lindquist had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

OLSTAD CONTINUES TO CEMENT HIS NAME ON THE CAREER LISTS
Senior Cole Olstad has surpassed Jeff Chamberlain (1993-97) for third on the school's all-time scoring list. Olstad now has 1,472 career points while Chamberlain held the career scoring record for 13 years until 2010 when Craig Heiman (2006-10) finally passed him. Heiman amassed 1,768 points and is followed by Terez VanPelt (2011-15) with 1,546. Olstad is 28 points shy of 1,500 and 74 shy of VanPelt.

Not just a scorer, Olstad also ranks highly in several other statistical categories in his storied career, holding the program records for games played (1160, started (102) and minutes played (3,589). In his time on the floor, Olstad ranks second in career steals (176) and free throws made (334), third in rebounds (584) and three-pointers made (196), sixth in assists (247) and free throw percentage (.807), eighth in blocked shots (62) and 11th in three-point percentage (.387).

On the year, Olstad is averaging a career-high 15.3 points (13th NSIC), has a career-high 81 assists (2.9/game), is not far off his top rebounding pace of 5.7 last year with 5.6 per game (15th NSIC), leads the league tying a career-high with 52 steals (1.9/game), ranks 10th in the league in free throw shooting (82.0% - 114-139), has a career-high 53 three-pointers while his 1.9 3FG/game rank 15th in the NSIC.

He's a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team selection and is on this year's Academic All-America ballot, is a reigning All-NSIC Second Team performer and will be a rare four-time NSIC All-Academic student-athlete while earning the NSIC Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction honor.

AMBRIZ SPARKS STARTING LINEUP
Redshirt freshman Matt Ambriz has started the last eight games for the Golden Bears and has made 10 starts overall this season, helping the team to a 9-1 record when in the starting lineup. Over the last eight games, Ambriz has scored in double-figures six times with at least seven points each game and has made a blistering 53.3 percent (24-45) from the arc while averaging 12.8 points to increase his scoring average from 4.8 on January 19 to its current 7.5. In his 10 starts, Ambriz has buried 27 three-pointers at a 55.1 percent rate.

On the year, he's knocked down 50 three-pointers at a 46.7 percent rate, and is an 80.6 percent (25-31) free throw shooter. He's the league's fifth ranked three-point marksman, second among all freshmen shooters.

MANDLI HAVING CAREER YEAR
Senior Shea Mandli has turned in his top season as a college basketball player in 2015-16, averaging career-highs of 11.7 points and 6.2 rebounds to better his previous highs of 7.0 and 4.0, respectively. He's also shattered his previous career-high of 22 assists by dishing out 54 this year, an average of nearly two per game out of the post and has produced a career-high of 13 steals to go with his 14 blocked shots. He's also converting 52.3 percent (124-237) from the floor.

He ranks just outside of the league's top-30 in scoring, and is 11th in the NSIC in rebounding and 15th in field goal percentage. He has cracked the program's top-10 in career rebounds with 477, averaging 4.4 across 107 games in his career with 58 starts and an average of 21.3 minutes per game.

He owns three double-doubles on the season: 13 points and 13 rebounds in a win at Bemidji State (11/24), 10 points and 12 rebounds in a home loss to Winona State (12/11) and 18 points and 15 rebounds in a home win over Northern State (1/30). He scored a career-high 28 points on 10-15 shooting and 8-10 free throw shooting with eight rebounds in a win over Minnesota Crookston (1/15).

MATTHEWS HAVING BIG FRESHMAN YEAR
Freshman Bryndan Matthews has started 25 of Concordia's 28 games this year and is second on the team with 30.3 minutes per game, third on the team in scoring with 11.7 points, second on the team with 5.6 rebounds (15th NSIC), fourth in assists (47) and third in steals (27).

He ranks second among Northern Sun freshmen in scoring (12.6) and rebounding (5.6) in conference play.

He's been one of the more consistent scoring threats on the team, reaching double-figures 18 times and scoring at least eight points in 25 out of 28 games. He had a career-high 23 points with five rebounds and three steals in Friday night's win over SMSU, shooting 9-14 from the floor and 5-6 at the stripe. He also had 19 points playing all 50 minutes of the double-overtime win over then-#3 MSU Moorhead (1/29), adding nine rebounds. He had his first and only double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds in a conference win over Bemidji State (1/16).

In addition to Matthews' scoring prowess in his rookie season, he's often tasked with playing the team's role as shutdown defender. On Saturday night in a win over Sioux Falls, Matthews held Mack Johnson to just 10 points on 3-11 shooting and 1-6 three-point shooting. Johnson led USF with 18.2 points per game entering the contest and is currently still the league's 10th-ranked scorer (17.2) and third in the league with 69 three-pointers made at a 44.3 percent clip.