ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (4-17, 1-13 NSIC) remains on the road this weekend as they are set to travel to Bemidji State (7-12, 5-9 NSIC) on Friday and Minnesota Crookston (6-14, 2-12 NSIC) on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears dropped road contests at Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls.

On Friday, the Golden Bears led for much of the opening half on Friday night before being outscored by 25 over the final 23 minutes in an 81-56 loss at SMSU.

On Saturday, CSP fell behind 23-4 in the opening six minutes as USF hit their first 10 shots in a 93-70 loss for the Golden Bears.

For the week, Concordia held a 21-14 edge on the offensive glass over the two games despite trailing 69-62 in total rebounds.

Bryndan Matthews led the team with 14.5 points per game while knocking down 16-21 (76.2%) in the two games over the weekend. Ahmad Newsome came off the bench to average 6.5 rebounds per game to go along with 4.5 points and 2.5 assists off the bench for CSP.

BSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears will meet the Beavers for the 31st time in series history on Friday as CSP has gone 16-14 in the previous 30 meetings. Since BSU claimed 10 of the first 11 contests in the series, CSP has dominated with a record of 15-4 since 2005 including Concordia extending their winning streak to four in the first meeting this season in non-conference play. In 15 total meetings in Bemidji, CSP has gone 5-10.

LAST MEETING VS BSU
Back on November 17th in their home opener, Concordia grabbed a 70-58 win over Bemidji State.

Concordia's defense made life tough on the Beavers as they held them to just 58 points on 31.7% (19-60) shooting and 28.0% (7-25) from three. The offense was equally impressive as the Golden Bears knocked down 50.0% (29-58) from the field and 35.0% (7-20) from deep in the win.
 
The Golden Bears dominated in several other areas as they held a 39-32 edge on the glass as well as a massive 38-20 edge in the paint. CSP also picked up a 9-0 advantage in fast break points in an all-around solid effort.

Senior Diallo Powell and freshman Ted Brown provided a formidable inside-outside duo as both picked up 16 points on an efficient night from the floor. Powell shot 6-10 and 3-4 from beyond the arc as he also chipped in seven boards and four assists for a full line while Brown was a perfect 7-7 from the floor and 2-2 from the line to go along with six boards on the night.

ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Bemidji State heads into the weekend playing solid basketball over the past few weeks with wins in four of their past six NSIC games after dropping seven of eight to begin league play. Overall, the Beavers hold a record of 7-12 to go along with their 5-9 mark in conference.

Last weekend, the Beavers followed up a 79-71 loss at Minot State with a 78-67 win in Bismarck over U-Mary. In Saturday's win, Bemidji State used a 9-5 edge in threes made as well as a 32-19 edge in bench scoring to claim the win. Sharif Black led the way on the night with 18 points while Christian Pekarek added 12.

After scoring in single-digits for just the second game this season against the Marauders, freshman Jai'Vionne Green continues to lead the Beavers with 16.7 points per game. His per-game scoring average ranks him seventh in the NSIC and second among true freshman, while his .479 field goal percentage ranks him 14th. Best is among the top 10 shooters in the league, ranking eight with a .517 field goal percentage. Green is joined by Sharif Black (14.1 PPG) and Ben Best (13.2 PPG) in double figures in scoring on the year.

UMC SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Saturday's matchup, the Golden Bears have dominated the all-time series with the Golden Eagles as they have picked up 22 wins in 26 meetings. CSP has been especially dominant in recent years with 15 wins in the past 16 meetings, including wins in nine in a row, as UMC's last win came back in 2007. Concordia has found equal success at home and on the road as they have gone 11-2 both on their home court and in Crookston against the Golden Eagles.

LAST MEETING VS UMC
Last year in St. Paul, Concordia rode a career-best 28 points from then-senior Shea Mandli to a 76-69 win over Minnesota Crookston.

Mandli shot 10-15 from the floor and 8-10 from the stripe with five of his eight rebounds coming on the offensive glad. He was flanked by senior frontcourt teammate Mike Yahnke who had his second-straight double-double with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Yahnke also dished out three assists, all to Mandli in the high-low.

Mandli and Yahnke helped the Golden Bears punish the Golden Eagles down low with a 50-32 edge on the glass including 20-9 on the offensive boards which helped Concordia outscore UMC 18-8 in second chance opportunities. More importantly, Concordia earned 33 trips to the foul line, converting 29 (.875) while UMC made just 14 appearances (11-14, .786) despite the fouls being nearly equal with Concordia drawing 20 and committing 18.

Concordia led for over 34 minutes of play and led by as many as 17 points midway through the second half, 62-45 before the Golden Eagles made an 8-0 run to get the lead under 10, 62-53 with under six and a half minutes to play. But Concordia wouldn't allow UMC closer than seven down the stretch to finish off the win.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Minnesota Crookston holds a record of 6-14 overall and 2-12 in NSIC play with just one win in their last nine games and no wins in their last five. UMC's two wins in league play came in an 82-81 win over BSU on Dec. 15th and a 92-89 win over SCSU on Jan. 7th.

Last weekend, the Golden Eagles suffered losses at U-Mary and Minot State as they fell to the Marauders 94-89 and the Beavers 84-72. In Friday's loss, Minnesota Crookston was led by Harrison Cleary, who had a big night with 26 points on 8-of-14 from the field. Four other players tallied double-figure scoring. Chase Knickerbocker would add 14 points, including going 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. Connor Gamble added 16 points, including going 4-of-4 from beyond the arc

On the year, Cleary has been the undisputed go-to guy for Minnesota Crookston with a team-high 20.5 points per game.  The freshman has eclipsed 20 points 11 times, including a pair of games over 30. Knickerbocker also averages double figures with 11.1 points per game.

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

Bryndan Matthews has been impressive filling up the stat sheet as he has put up top-25 numbers in eight different categories. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.0 rebounds per game rank sixth in the league (174th in the nation) while his 5.3 defensive boards per game ranks seventh (134th in the nation). His 51.9% field goal percentage also ranks seventh.

In addition, Ted Brown ranks 11th in blocks per game (0.8) and Matt Ambriz ranks 11 in threes made per game (2.3) while Sam Siganos ranks 10th in assists per game (3.6) and 15th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7).

YOUNG GUNS
The Golden Bears feature a young roster this season with just two upperclassmen (both transfers) while the rest of the squad is in their freshman or sophomore campaigns. Over the past several games, Concordia's has went especially young in the starting lineup with all freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup.

Freshman Max Keefe continues to develop into a consistent offensive threat for the Golden Bears as he has scored in double figures in eight of the last 12 games and nine of the last 16. In the last 12 games, Keefe has put up 10.2 points per game to move his season average up to 7.9 points per game.

Sam Siganos is another freshman who has gotten things going the past few weeks with at least four assists in nine of the last 15 games, including a stretch of four in a row with at least six. Siganos has started the past 10 contests as his season line has moved to 6.3 points and 3.6 assists in 21 games.

Fellow freshman Ted Brown has been a mainstay in the lineup since the start of the year with 18 starts in his 20 appearances so far. The West Des Moines native ranks fourth on the team with 8.3 points and second with 4.9 rebounds while leading the way with 0.8 blocks per game and a 53.5% shooting percentage.