ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-2) picked up their first win of the season in their home opener against North Central (0-1) by a score of 85-51 on Tuesday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears improved to 4-0 in home openers under head coach
Joey James as they made it 15 consecutive wins over the Rams in the all-time series. The win was also the 50
th all-time for CSP against North Central as they improved to 50-13.
Concordia controlled the game on both ends of the court by knocking down 52.4% (33-63) of their looks while holding North Central to just 27.4% (17-62) from the field. CSP's field goal percentage allowed was the lowest since the Golden Bears held Northland College to 21.2% (14-66) back on Nov. 22, 2014 in St. Paul.
CSP also held a decisive edge down low by grabbing a 49-30 advantage on the glass (13-10 on the offensive glass) as well as a dominant 44-12 advantage in points in the paint. The Golden Bears also finished on top with a 14-3 edge in fast break points to go along with a 27-13 edge in bench scoring to aid the effort.
Bryndan Matthews picked up where he left off on the weekend with a team-best 18 points on a solid 8-10 shooting while also leading all players with eight boards. The junior also chippedin four assists and a pair of steals on the night.
Avan Ward and
Ted Brown joined him in double figures as Ward scored all 14 of his points in the second half to finish with 14 points, four rebounds and three assists while Brown hit 6-10 for 13 points and three rebounds.
Max Keefe filled the box score with seven points, six rebounds and six assists while Cody Carlson added eight points and seven boards off the bench.
The Rams were led by Jared High's 11 points while Marcus Wynn and Roy Mack added eight points apiece.
The Golden Bears set the tone from the opening tip as they opened on a 15-0 run spanning the first six minutes of the game. North Central battled back to cut the deficit to 10 at 21-11 at the midpoint of the half before Concordia went back on the attack. CSP rattled off a 10-0 run to extend the advantage to 35-13 with 5:04 left in the half before taking their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 40-17 heading into the locker room.
Concordia scored 10 of 13 to open the second half to grow their lead to 50-20 as the lead remained above 25 the rest of the night. The Rams held the margin at 30 at 66-36 before another run, this time a 15-5 burst, pushed the lead to the largest differential of the night at 81-41. NCU cut into that margin down the stretch to bring it to the final score of 85-51.
The Golden Bears continue non-conference action this weekend when they travel to Milwaukee for the Black & Gold Shootout. CSP will take on Milwaukee on Friday and Elon on Saturday in exhibition play before taking on Florida International in regular season action on Sunday.
