HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (1-5) finished up non-conference play with a 68-57 loss at Michigan Tech (3-3) on Saturday afternoon.
The Huskies avenged last season's 85-80 loss at Gangelhoff Center with a home win of their own to even up the series at one apiece. MTU used a solid defensive effort to aid the victory as they held the Golden Bears to 37.0% (20-54) from the floor while knocking down 45.1% (23-51) on the offensive end. Both teams found success from beyond the arc as Michigan Tech buried 13 threes on 28 attempts (46.4%) compared to 9-20 (45.0%) for Concordia. Michigan Tech also benefitted from a +6 turnover margin (13-7) to grab a 16-7 edge in points off of turnovers.
CSP led in most other statistical categories as they managed a strong 37-28 advantage in rebounding, including a 13-5 edge on the offensive glass, as well as a 15-5 edge in second chance points. The Golden Bears also got more production from their non-starters as the Concordia bench outscored MTU's 17-6.
Bryndan Matthews made it nine straight games (including exhibition) with 15+ points as he led the team with 15 and six boards on the night.
Ted Brown joined him in double figures as the big man added 10 points on 3-6 shooting and 4-4 from the free throw line to go along with his five boards.
Avan Ward went into the half with nine points, but was held scoreless after the half, while
Sam Siganos and Evan Wesenberg had six points apiece.
Bryan Heath put up an incredible performance form three-point range as he knocked down 7-10 from deep and 10-16 overall to lead all players with 28 points for the Huskies. Kyle Monroe added a solid effort for MTU as well with 19 points on 5-11 from the field and 7-8 from the charity stripe on the night.
After falling behind 5-2 in the opening moments of the afternoon, the Golden Bears rattled off an impressive 11-0 run spanning just over three minutes to build a 13-5 edge. CSP continued to add their lead as their advantage hit double figures at 17-7 with 13:43 to go in the half before the Huskies turned the momentum in their favor. Michigan Tech responded with 14 of the next 16 points to take the lead before continuing to add to it down the stretch in the first half. Concordia temporarily regained the lead at 22-21 before another MTU run, this time a 14-3 burst, pushed the Husky lead to double digits at 35-25. The two teams traded buckets going into the break as CSP trailed 37-29 after the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Huskies extended their advantage to 12 with the first two buckets of the second, but the Golden Bears came storming back from there. Still down nine at 46-37 with 13:29 to play, Concordia strung together a 12-2 run to take a 49-48 lead of their own with 7:31 left on the clock. That lead proved to be their only one of the half as eight of the next nine points went to Michigan Tech as they pulled out front 56-50. The run continued as they added back-to-back threes after a Matthews layup to push it to 10 at 62-52 with just over two minutes to play. Matthews added a three to cut it to seven before the Huskies closed it out strong to take it 68-57.
The Golden Bears open up NSIC play on their home court with Augustana and Wayne State coming to town.
