ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (4-10, 1-6 NSIC) open up the New Year on their home court this weekend as Wayne State (4-10, 2-6 NSIC) comes on Friday night and Augustana (10-4, 5-3 NSIC) comes on Saturday night to Gangelhoff Center.

LAST TIME OUT
Closing out 2016, the Golden Bears were swept on the road as they fell to Northern State on Friday and MSU Moorhead on Saturday. Friday's contest saw CSP fall just short as they cut a double-digit second half deficit all the way down to one in the closing moments of a 76-75 loss.

Despite dropping both contests, CSP held a decisive edge shooting as they shot 47.7% (51-107) from the floor and 42.4% (14-33) from three-point range compared to 42.1% (51-121) from the floor and 32.7% (16-49) from deep for their opponents.

The difference of both games came on the glass as the Golden Bears were outrebounded by a margin of 78-62 (32-17 on the offensive glass) leading to a 35-13 edge in second chance points for their opponents.

Bryndan Matthews paced the Golden Bears with 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while knocking down 4-7 from deep on the weekend while Ted Brown put up 13.5 points and 5.0 boards per game in 22.5 minutes per game on an efficient 60.0% (9-15) from the field.

WSC SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have split the all-time series with the Wildcats as each team has claimed 18 wins in the previous 36 meetings. Since a stretch from 2006-2011 that saw Concordia win nine of 10 meetings, the Wildcats have turned the momentum in their favor with eight wins in the last 12. Interestingly, both teams hold the same record on their home court as CSP has gone 12-6 in St. Paul while WSC has gone 12-6 in Wayne in the series.

LAST MEETING VS WSC
After winning three of four in the series entering this season, the Golden Bears were stifled by the Wildcats in a 76-48 loss on Dec. 3 in Wayne.

Concordia's offense was shut down by Wayne State as they knocked down just 32.6% (14-43) from the field and 27.3% (3-11) from beyond the arc on the night. The Wildcats were also impressive on the offensive end with an efficient 52.5% (31-59) shooting and 42.9% (12-28) from deep.

Turnovers were also a factor as WSC turned 21 CSP turnovers into 20 points while the Golden Bears were only able to force 13 turnovers for 16 points.

Ted Brown was the lone Golden Bear to finish in double figures with 10 points on 4-5 shooting as he added six boards in 23 minutes. Sam Siganos chipped in eight points while Bryndan Matthews added seven and Carter Brooks had six.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
The Wildcats enter into the weekend with three straight NSIC losses along with a non-conference win over William Jewell mixed in. After knocking off Minot State on the road back on Dec. 10, WSC has dropped league games at home to Augustana, Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State.

On New Year's Eve, Wayne State fell to Southwest Minnesota State 85-73 as the Mustangs held a double-digit advantage throughout the entire second half. Kendall Jacks and Matt Thomas led WSC in scoring with 19 points apiece while Jordan Cornelius also reached double figures with 11.
 
On the year, Jacks and Thomas are the lone Wildcats to average in double figures in scoring (13.6 and 11.6, respectively) while four other players register in with at least 8.0 points per game in a balanced offense. In addition to being the team's leading scorer, Jacks also has dished out a team-best 2.5 assists per game while Jordan Cornelius is pulling down 5.6 boards per game to lead the squad.

AUGIE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears meet the Vikings for the 23rd time in the all-time series as CSP holds a record of 5-17 in the previous 21 meetings. The Vikings have dominated the series in the recent past with 10 straight wins over Concordia dating back to CSP's 81-77 win on St. Paul on Jan. 3, 2012. In 11 meetings in the all-time series in St. Paul, the Golden Bears have collected a record of 4-7.

LAST MEETING VS AUGIE
Back on Dec. 2 in the NSIC opener, the Golden Bears saw the Vikings pull away in the second half in a 103-66 loss in Sioux Falls.

Concordia led for nearly eight minutes of the contest, but the entirety came in the first half with the final CSP lead coming at 27-26 with just over six minutes to play in the half. It was a strong start as Concordia scored the first five points of the night, a three-pointer by Matt Ambriz off the opening tip and a layup by Bryndan Matthews just over a minute in on CSP's second possession. Concordia took it's largest lead 2:35 into the game when Ahmad Newsome hit a three-pointer for an 8-2 lead.

Newsome led CSP in scoring with 12 points on 4-6 shooting including a perfect 3-3 from the arc in 18 minutes. Matthews had 10 points and four assists and Ambriz knocked down a pair of triples and added three assists.

Overall, seven players for Concordia scored at least six points in a balanced effort. OC Omoregie had eight points on 3-5 shooting in 11 minutes off the bench and freshmen Sam Siganos and Max Keefe each contributed seven with Siganos dishing five assists with no turnovers.

ABOUT THE VIKINGS
The defending NCAA Divsion II National Champions got off to a strong start again this season with 12 wins in their first 12 contests, including a 5-1 record in NSIC action, before slipping up at home and losing a pair of hard fought games to SMSU and USF over the weekend.
 
On Friday, Southwest Minnesota State's Michael Lee hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining in the game to give the Mustangs a 75-72 lead and the visiting team would hang to for the 78-76 win to hand Augustana University its first home loss in 39 games. For the second night in a row on Saturday, Augie  lost in the final seconds of the game as Drew Guebert hit a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left to give Sioux Falls a 65-62 lead and the Cougars held on for a 69-62 win.

Jordan Spencer has been in the middle of much of what the Vikings have done this season as he leads the team with 15.6 points per game to go along with an impressive 7.4 assists per game, sixth-best in the nation, in a hefty 34.4 minutes per game. The duo of graduate transfer Mike Busack (formerly of Minnesota State) and senior Adam Beyer have also been major contributors as Busack averages 14.1 points and 5.8 boards while Beyer is shoot 58.9% from the floor for an average of 12.7 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 nine different categories. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.6 rebounds per game rank fourth in the league (139th in the nation) while his 6.1 defensive boards per game also ranks fourth (81st in the nation). His 51.7% field goal percentage also ranks sixth.

Sharp-shooter Matt Ambriz remains inside the top-5 in the nation in three-point percentage at third with a mark of 55.9%, best in the league. Ambriz also ranks fifth in the league and 68th in the country with 2.9 threes made per game.

Senior guard Diallo Powell has also been a versatile player as he ranks near the top in the league in four categories while Ahmad Newsome registers in at ninth (167th in NCAA DII) with 3.8 assists per game. Ted Brown also ranks fifth in blocks per game (0.8) while Sam Siganos ranks ninth in assists per game (3.6) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0).

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. In the young roster, a few freshmen have turned it on as of late as they continue to adjust to the college game.

Freshman Max Keefe continues to develop into a consistent offensive threat off the bench for the Golden Bears as he has scored in double figures in five  games in a row and six of the last nine. During that span, Keefe has put up 10.2 points per game to move his season average up to 7.8 points per game.

Sam Siganos is another freshman who has gotten things going the past few weeks with at least four assists in six of the last eight games, including a stretch of four in a row with at least six. Siganos has started the past three contests as his season line has moved to 5.2 points and 3.6 assists in 14 games.

Fellow freshman Ted Brown has been a mainstay in the lineup since the start of the year with 12 starts in his 13 appearances so far. The West Des Moines native ranks fourth on the team with 9.3 points and third with 4.9 rebounds while leading the way with 0.8 blocks per game and a 56.7% shooting percentage.