ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (1-9, 0-4 NSIC) heads south to Mankato to face Minnesota State (7-2, 4-0 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in their final contest before the holiday break.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears dropped their first two NSIC road contests of the season as they fell behind early on Friday night at UIU before seeing WSU run away late on Saturday.

Concordia outscored the Peacocks 47-39 in the second half on Friday and led by as many as nine in the first half at Winona State but they were unable to put together a full performance in the two losses. CSP continued to be solid on the glass as they held a 25-20 edge on the offensive glass in the two games while trailing their opponents 67-64 in total rebounds.

Bryndan Matthews continued to play a starring role for the Golden Bears with 18.0 points and 9.5 rebounds as well as 3.5 assists in the team's two games. Evan Weseneberg was incredibly efficient from the floor as he connected on 8-10 shots and 4-4 from the free throw line to put up 10.0 points per game off the bench. Ted Brown did a little bit of everything for CSP with 9.0 points, 6.0 boards and 2.5 blocks while shooting 60.0% from the field.

MSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are set to meet the Mavericks for the 29th time in series history on Saturday. In the previous 28 meetings, CSP has gone 6-22 against MSU. The series has been tipped in favor of the Mavericks over the past few years as MSU has won 10 of the last 11 meetings dating back to the 2012-13 season. Minnesota State has had a lot of success against Concordia in Mankato with a record of 12-2 on their home court.

LAST MEETING VS MSU
In the NSIC quarterfinals back on Feb. 26, CSP fell to Minnesota State 73-51 at Sanford Pentagon.

The Golden Bears, the eighth seed in the NSIC South, saw their tournament run come to an end at the hands of the Mavericks, the fourth seed in the NSIC South, after pulling off the upset on the road at MSU Moorhead.
 
It was a tale of two halves as CSP locked down the Mavericks in the first half before MSU broke out in a big way after the break. The Golden Bears held Minnesota State to just 32.4% from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, but they knocked down 61.5% in the second half to finish the game at 45.0% (27-60).
 
CSP finished the day at 40.8% (20-49) overall and just 10.0% (1-10) from three as they shot below 42% in both halves.
 

Turnovers players a major role with MSU turning 16 Concordia turnovers into 23 points while the Golden Bears finished with just six points on the Mavericks' six turnovers.
 
Diallo Powell closed out his career in navy and gold with a solid outing off the bench, leading the squad with 16 points on 6-15 from the floor as he also added four boards. 

Bryndan Matthews also closed the season out strong with his sixth double-double of the season as he fought his way to 10 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. Ted Brown gave the team three players in double figures as he wrapped up his freshman campaign with 12 points and five rebounds on an efficient 5-8 shooting.

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
Minnesota State owns a 7-2 record this season, including a 4-0 NSIC record after defeating Winona State (83-72) and Upper Iowa (86-83) on the road last weekend. MSU is currently on a four-game winning streak.

Senior Charlie Brown leads the Maverick offense this season with 17.8 points and 3.9 assists per game. Sophomore Kevin Krieger is averaging 15.4 points and 4.4 rebounds a game. Sophomore Cameron Kirksey is posting 11.9 points and 4.4 rebounds a game as well.

As a team, MSU is shooting 49.5% from the field this season, including a 40.3% showing from long range. MSU is also hauling in 35.0 rebounds per game and has dished out 106 assists.

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

Bryndan Matthews has been impressive filling up the stat sheet as he has put up top-15 numbers in eight different categories. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.6 rebounds per game rank fourth in the league (132nd in the nation) while his 2.6 offensive boards per game rank fourth as well (130th in the nation) as well. The junior has also been the team's go-to scorer as his 17.0 points per game rank 11th while he also ranks second in minutes per game (35.5) and 14th in assists per game (3.2)

In addition, Ted Brown ranks inside the top-10 in a few categories with his 60.3% shooting percentage (sixth) and 2.2 offensive rebounds per game (eighth).

NEARING 1,000
Junior Brydan Matthews has been a major contributor throughout his three seasons on campus and now finds himself closing in on becoming the 15th member of the 1,000 point club at Concordia. The Eagan native is just 20 points shy as he ranks 16th in program history with 980 points.