MANKATO, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-10, 0-5 NSIC) fell to Minnesota State (8-2, 5-0 NSIC) by a score of 93-68 at Taylor Center on Saturday afternoon in their final contest before the holiday break.
 
The Mavericks continued their recent success against the Golden Bears as they made it 11 wins in the last 12 meetings while also improving to 13-2 all-time on their home court against CSP.
 
Four areas cost Concordia as Minnesota State controlled the game on the glass, in the turnover column, beyond the arc, and at the free throw line as CSP was outscored 16-3 in second chance points, 23-6 in points off of turnovers, 33-15 from deep, and 18-9 at the line on the day.
 
Those factors negated a solid day shooting for the Golden Bears as they hit an even 50.0% (27-54) from the floor and 41.7% (5-12) from three-point range, nearly matching MSU's marks of 50.8% (32-63) and 45.8% (11-24).
 
A big factor in the team's efficient showing from the floor was sophomore Avan Ward. Ward compiled a career-high 27 points on 10-17 shooting in just 23 minutes of action. The guard hit all five of the team's three-pointers on the day as he hit 5-8 from deep.
 
Bryndan Matthews continued to close in on 1,000 points in his career as his 15 points on 6-12 from the floor brought his total to 995 points, just five shy of the mark. He also chipped in a team-best seven rebounds and four assists on the afternoon.
 
Evan Wesenberg added eight points and six rebounds while five other CSP players registered at least three points.
 
It was a balanced attack for the Mavericks with four different players scoring at least 14 points and eight different players scoring at least five. Chris Hendrix led the way with 17 points on just 5-6 shooting while Cameron Kirksey and Carlos Anderson each chipped in 15 points apiece.
 
Concordia sputtered out of the gates as they were held off the board for the first 3:19 as they quickly fell behind 7-0. The Mavericks added to their lead and pushed it to double figures at 12-2 before the Golden Bears got going and cut it down to two with an 8-0 run. Just past the midway point of the half, CSP remained within six at 23-17, but three straight MSU buckets pushed it to the largest lead of the half at 29-17. The Golden Bears chipped away to cut it down to six with a minute left before the break before a late Minnesota State push made it 40-29 heading to the locker room.
 
The Mavericks put the game out of reach early in the second half as they used an extended 17-4 run spanning over seven minutes to extend the margin to 25 at 58-33 with 12:49 to play. The lead remained above 20 the rest of the night as Minnesota State led by as many as 33 before settling with a final margin of 25 at 93-68.
 
The Golden Bears will have next weekend off before returning to action at home against Northern State on Dec. 30 and MSU Moorhead on Dec. 31 as the team closes out the calendar year of 2017.