ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (0-2) is set to continue non-conference play with a busy week as they play host to North Central on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in the home opener before travelling to Milwaukee for the Black & Gold Shootout over the weekend.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, CSP went 0-2 at the GAC/NSIC Crossover Challenge as they fell to #23 Arkansas-Monticello and Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Ark.

Despite going 0-2, the Golden Bears connected on 52.8% (57-108) from the floor and held a 70-57 edge in rebounding on the weekend. Concordia's opponents caught fire from deep as CSP allowed 27 threes on 59 attempts (45.8%) while hitting 12-34 (35.3%) themselves.
 
Junior guard Bryndan Matthews averaged a double-double as he led the team with 19.0 points on 56.0% from the floor (14-25) to go along with 10.0 rebounds in the two games. Sophomore guard Avan Ward scored 24 points in his CSP debut on Friday night while finishing the weekend with 15.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.0 threes made per game. Sophomore center Ted Brown missed just one shot all weekend as he average 10.5 points on 9-10 shooting to go along with 5.5 boards per game.
 
NORTH CENTRAL SERIES HISTORY
Prior to the Golden Bears joining the NSIC, Concordia and North Central were familiar foes in the UMAC. CSP and NCU have met 62 times in the all-time series with Concordia holding a significant 49-13 edge heading into Tuesday's contest. Since 1994, the Golden Bears have won the last 14 meetings, including 11 wins by double figures. CSP has found quite a bit of success on their home court as they have gone 19-4 at home against the Rams.
 
LAST MEETING WITH NORTH CENTRAL
Back on Dec. 2, 2014, the Golden Bears won its final non-conference contest 84-63 over North Central at Gangelhoff Center behind a blistering first half shooting performance. 
 
Junior Mike Yahnke was 7-8 from the floor for a game-high 18 points, adding seven rebounds to lead six players in double-figures for Concordia.
 
CSP took advantage of a solid rebound margin produced a solid return as Concordia pulled down 43 rebounds to North Central's 24. Joining Yahnke on the glass with seven rebounds were guards Cole Olstad and Keith Crockett, who each scored 10 points and had four assists. While the Golden Bears did commit 20 turnovers leading to a 26-16 deficit in points off turnovers to the Rams, they also converted 21 assists led by senior Terez VanPelt's eight with just two turnovers.
 
BLACK & GOLD SHOOTOUT
This weekend, Concordia will take on three Division I opponents in as many days from Friday to Sunday in the Black & Gold Shootout. The Golden Bears open up with exhibition games against host-school Milwaukee on Friday and Elon on Saturday before playing a regular season contest against Florida International on Sunday. Friday's game will start at 8 p.m., Saturday's will start at 3 p.m. and Sunday's will start at 1 p.m.
 
Tickets are available both in all session and single session packages with all session packages starting at $20 and single session packages starting at $10. Visit the link above for full ticket prices for the tournament.
 
MILWAUKEE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and the Panthers have met three times in regular season play heading into Friday's matchup as Milwaukee has claimed wins in all three meetings. All three meetings have been on Milwaukee's home court with CSP hanging within 14 points in two of the three contests.
 
LAST MEETING WITH MILWAUKEE
Back on Nov. 29, 2014, the Golden Bears took a 26-24 lead into the half before Milwaukee took over after the break to hand CSP a 64-59 loss at Panther Arena.
 
Concordia used an early 14-0 run spanning nearly four minutes of action to take an 18-7 lead over Milwaukee with 11:27 to play in the first half, but the Panthers battled back in the second half to come out on top. Free throws played a big role as Milwaukee converted 26-of-31 attempts (83.9%) for the night as Concordia made just 7-of-17 (41.2%) for the game.
 
Overall, Concordia held the lead for 14:50 of play on the home floor of a Division I mid-major opponent coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance a year prior and four postseason appearances over the previous nine years. Concordia also held the larger lead (11) than Milwaukee (8) on the night. The game featured two ties and four lead changes while remaining close throughout.
 
Junior guard Cole Olstad scored a game-high 19 points for the Division II Golden Bears while Steve McWhorter led the Division I Panthers with 17 points.
 
ELON/FIU SERIES HISTORY
This weekend marks the first time Concordia will face either Elon or Florida International on the basketball court.