MANKATO, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (4-13, 1-9 NSIC) fell to Minnesota State (11-5, 6-4 NSIC) by a score of 76-56 on the road on Tuesday night.
 
The Mavericks made it nine wins in 10 tries against the Golden Bears as the Golden Bears fell to 6-21 in the 27 all-time meetings.
 
Concordia was limited to just 35.7% (20-56) from the floor and 29.4% (5-17) from three while the Mavericks finished the game with an efficient mark of 51.7% (31-60) from the floor. CSP did manage to knock down 11 of their 12 free throw attempts to finish with a 91.7% from the stripe.
 
Minnesota did most of their damage in the low post as they held a strong 38-22 edge in points in the paint in the win. They also held edges of 15-8 in assists and 16-10 in turnovers forced on the night as well.
 
Three players for CSP finished in double figures scoring as Bryndan Matthews led the way off the bench while Sam Siganos and Max Keefe also reached the mark.
 
Matthews put up 13 points on 5-12 shooting while knocking down all three of his free throw attempts as he also added six boards in a team-leading 33 minutes of action. Siganos followed with 12 points and four rebounds while Keefe scored 10.
 
Ted Brown grabbed a team-high six boards to go along with five points while Ahmad Newsome added five more rebounds in just 14 minutes off the bench.
 
Jon Fuqua was solid all around for the Mavericks with 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five steals while Joey Witthus nearly matched his offensive output with 18 points in the winning effort for Minnesota State.
 
The Golden Bears took four of the first seven points of the game to build an early advantage, but the Mavericks quickly grabbed control with a 15-0 run to build an 18-4 lead. CSP spent much of the rest of the half chipping away to fight their way back in it.
 
The gap shrunk to single digits at 18-9 and 20-11 near the midway point of the half before the lead returned to double figures. Back-to-back threes from Siganos and Max Keefe with under five minutes to play before the break got Concordia back within seven at 32-25, but the final eight points heading into the half went in favor of MSU made it 40-25.
 
The Mavericks continued their push early in the second half with a 6-2 run to grow their lead all the way to 19. By the 12:01 mark, Minnesota State extended their lead to the largest of the night at 20 at 53-33, but the Golden Bears managed to battle back from there.
 
CSP scored the next six points and 10 of 12 to nearly cut the lead in half before MSU slowed their momentum. Concordia was unable to pull any closer than 12 as the Mavericks maintained the lead and eventually grew it back to 20 at the final of 76-56.
 
Concordia returns to their home court this weekend as U-Mary and Minot State come to town.