ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (5-24, 2-20 NSIC) put together a feverish comeback attempt, but dropped the regular season finale to Southwest Minnesota State (22-5, 17-5 NSIC) by a score of 89-76 on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears finish the regular season as the eighth seed in the NSIC South and will face NSIC North Champion #21 MSU Moorhead in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament. The game is scheduled for Wednesday night in Moorhead with a tentative tip-off at 8 p.m. The winner advances to the Sanford Pentagon for the quarterfinals on Sunday, Feb. 26.
The Mustangs claimed the NSIC South regular season title as they entered the night even with Upper Iowa, who lost in overtime at Augustana. It is their first NSIC South Division Championship since the league instituted divisions. SMSU also moves to 27-10 against CSP in the all-time series and 11-7 in 18 contests in St. Paul.
Southwest Minnesota State were efficient from the field all night as they knocked down 61.3% in the first half before hitting 55.0% after the break to finish at 58.8% (30-51). SMSU was also effective from beyond the arc at 47.8% (11-23) and from the free throw line at 47.8% (18-23). Concordia, on the other hand, finished the night at 40.6% (26-64) from the floor and 40.0% (10-25) from three.
Keys to the comeback push for the Golden Bears came on the glass as they held a massive 18-4 edge in offensive rebounds and a 38-30 edge in overall boards resulting in a 16-6 advantage in second chance points. CSP also capitalized on SMSU's mistakes as they outscored the Mustangs 24-16 in points off of turnovers and used that to pick up a 17-8 edge in fast break points.
Bryndan Matthews continued his solid play of late as he flirted with a triple-double with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to go along with four steals. Matthews hit 3-5 from beyond the arc and 5-8 from the line in the loss.
While it was Matthews leading the way, the Golden Bears put together a balanced offensive attack as five different players scored in double figures.
Diallo Powell closed out his home career on a high note with 16 points and six boards off the bench as he hit 4-9 from the floor and 8-10 from the free throw line.
The freshmen trio of
Sam Siganos,
Ted Brown and
Carter Brooks each contributed 10 points as well. Siganos added five steals, four assists and three boards, while the 10 points were a career-best for Brooks.
Taylor Schafer gave the Mustangs a big lift off the bench with a game-high 25 points as he knocked down five threes in the win. Carter Kirk (13 points), Michael Lee (12 points), Ryan Bruggeman (12 points) and Joey Bartlett (10 points) also finished in double figures for SMSU. Bruggeman also added 10 assists for the double-double.
Concordia was the first team to build an advantage as they strung together a quick 7-2 run to turn a 5-5 tie into a 12-7 lead, but the Mustangs took over from there. Southwest Minnesota State knocked down back-to-back-to-back threes to score nine in a row to take the lead as a part of a larger extended 23-3 run to make it a 30-15 game in their favor just past the midway point of the half. SMSU continued to pour it on as the lead remained in double figures the rest of the half as it ballooned all the way to 23 with a halftime score of 51-28.
A 6-1 run to open the second half extended the lead to 28 before the Golden Bears started to chip away. CSP caught fire from deep as they hit three threes along with another jumper to register an 11-0 run to quickly pull the deficit back below 20 at 57-40 with 14:49 to play. The lead returned to 23 at 66-43 and again at 71-48, but Concordia mustered another big run as they scored the next 12 points to shrink the gap to 71-60 with 6:33 left on the clock. The game of runs continued as eight of the next ten went to the Mustangs before an 8-0 run for CSP pulled the differential back within single digits at 79-70 with just over a minute to go. The Golden Bears pulled as close as seven at 81-74 with 46 seconds left before Southwest Minnesota State closed out the 89-76 win at the free throw line.
