ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-14, 5-11 NSIC) will look to ride its current momentum all the way to Minot, N.D. this weekend, facing Minot State (10-12, 5-11 NSIC) on Friday at 8 p.m. and U-Mary (14-8, 9-7 NSIC) on Saturday at 6 p.m. in Bismarck.

GOLDEN BEARS FINISH JANUARY STRONG
The Golden Bears snapped a three game losing streak last Friday night in improbable and unpredictable fashion with a 98-97 double-overtime last second win over #3 MSU Moorhead at Gangelhoff Center. The circumstances for the win were as unpredictable as the upset itself as four Golden Bears had fouled out with nine healthy players in uniform available for the game, leaving the team with its last five players to finish the contest. When redshirt freshman Matt Ambriz picked up his fifth foul with a minute to play and Concordia leading 96-95, freshman OC Omoregie checked in for the first time all game. Just minutes before, he was in a walking boot and sweats only changing when Ambriz rolled an ankle and picked up his fourth foul moments later.

The Dragons went ahead 97-96 with 10 seconds to play, when Omoregie took the inbounds pass and used his athleticism to get to the basket. With a Dragon triple-team closing in around him, he dished to the left side of the lane where freshman Steven Kragt was wide open for the game-winning layup with 2.4 seconds to go. The assist was the only statistic recorded by Omorogie in the game, while Kragt's layup was his only shot attempt in seven minutes of playing time.

The win over #3 MSUM was Concordia's second top-10 win in head coach Joey James' two seasons with the program, also topping #10 Minnesota State (Mankato) last year in December at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia used the upset to continue its strong play on Saturday with an 84-76 win over Northern State. The weekend sweep of MSUM/NSU was the first since 2011-12 (also at Gangelhoff Center) and third overall sweep of the two teams in years in which they were travel partners.

Concordia played seven home games in the month of January, compiling a 5-2 record to improve the club to 7-5 on the season at home. They'll look to pick up the pace on the road where they are 1-9 away from Gangelhoff Center including 1-8 in road games (0-1 neutral) with the lone road win coming in non-conference play at Bemidji State (80-70) as the team seeks to snap a seven game road losing streak.

NSIC STANDINGS TIGHTEN
With the month of February remaining in the NSIC's regular season, the Golden Bears are poised to continue their late season ascent in the South Division standings. The last team to record a conference win with an 0-9 start in league play, the Golden Bears (5-11) are now two games ahead of Wayne State (3-13) in the division and trail Southwest Minnesota State (6-10) by just one game. Concordia and SMSU will have one more meeting in St. Paul on the seasn's final weekend at Gangelhoff Center on February 19. The Golden Bears are also three games behind Sioux Falls (8-8) and Upper Iowa (8-8) who are in a fourth place tie. Concordia and USF square off on senior day on February 20 at Gangelhoff Center, while the Golden Bears will head to Fayette, Iowa to face the Peacocks in a rematch on February 12 before heading to Winona State (9-7, 3rd).

With six games to play, a lot of variables would need to come into play for Concordia to catch both USF and UIU to get a first round home game. In the NSIC Sanford Health Tournament, the two divisions are seed 1-to-8 with the top seed in each division hosting the eighth seed in the opposite division with the rest following suit. As it currently stands, Concordia would be the seventh seed in the south and travel to Minnesota Duluth (11-5) in the first round. In their earlier meeting this year, Concordia fell at UMD's Romano Gym in overtime. If Concordia moves into sixth, they'd head to Bismack to face U-Mary (9-7) and if Concordia can jump fourth or fifth in the south, they'd travel to or host either Northern State (8-8) or St. Cloud State (8-8).

SERIES HISTORY VS MINOT STATE
Concordia heads to Minot State on Friday with a 1-2 record against the Beavers, all three meetings since Minot joined the league in 2012-13, carrying an 0-1 record in Minot with the only trip February 1, 2013. Last year, the Beavers topped CSP 99-91 in double overtime at Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul

SERIES HISTORY VS U-MARY
The Golden Bears will travel to Bismarck, N.D. on Saturday to face U-Mary with an 11-6 all-time record and 5-1 road record against the Marauders. Concordia has won five in a row against U-Mary including three straight in Bismarck with U-Mary's last home win over Concordia coming on January 23, 2010. Concordia is 11-4 against U-Mary since the Marauders joined the NSIC in 2006-07, including a 10-3 mark in league games. Last year, Concordia topped the Marauders 75-64 at Gangelhoff Center in league play on February 7 before knocking the Marauders out of the NSIC Tournament in the first round 78-65 on February 25 in St. Paul

COLE OLSTAD'S BIG WEEKEND:

• Averaged 25.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals to lift Concordia to a 2-0 weekend with big wins over #3 MSU Moorhead and Northern State
• Added 82.4 percent (14-17) free throw shooting, six three-pointers (.375) and a blocked shot
• Scored 21 points with seven rebounds, four assists (one turnover), four steals and a block in Concordia's double OT upset over #3 MSU Moorhead on Friday
• Scored a season-high 29 points with four assists in Saturday's win over Northern State
• Moved into 4th on Concordia's career scoring list with 1,380 points, surpassing Brian Jamros (2001-05, 1,371)
• Eclipsed 1,000-career NSIC points with 1,026 in 83 career league games and is five rebounds shy of 400
• Leads the league in steals with 44 in 22 total games

LAST WEEKEND'S QUICK HITTERS:

• The Golden Bears picked up a pair of big wins against the NSIC North, defeating #3 MSU Moorhead (98-97, 2OT) and Northern State (84-76)
• Cole Olstad led the team averaging 25.0 points while scoring 20-plus each night with a season-high 29 on Saturday to move into 4th on Concordia's career scoring list and surpassing 1,000 career NSIC points in 83 league games
• Olstad also had four steals and leads the league with 44 on the year
• Shea Mandli averaged a double-double with 16.0 points and 10.0 rebounds, adding a 10-to-1 assist-turnover ratio while shooting 63.6 percent (14-22) from the floor in the post, he had his third career double-double (all this season) with 18 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in Saturday's win over NSU; and had 14 points and six assists (no turnovers) in Friday's win over MSU Moorhead
• Matt Ambriz started each game at the point for the Golden Bears and logged his season-highs of 44 and 34 minutes each game while putting up a 28-point weekend on 7-11 three-point shooting and 9-16 overall shooting with a 5-1 assist-turnover ratio. Ambriz scored 12 points on four three-pointers in Friday's win over MSUM and 16 points on 3-4 three-point shooting on Saturday against NSU