ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (5-24), the eighth seed in the NSIC South, travels north to take on MSU Moorhead (24-4), the top seed in the NSIC North, in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday night.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears closed out the regular season with a pair of losses to Sioux Falls and Southwest Minnesota State on their home court.

On Friday, Concordia erased a double-digit second half deficit to take the lead in the final two minutes before falling to USF 73-69.

The Golden Bears then turned a 28-point game into a seven point game in the final minute in an 89-76 loss to SMSU in the regular season finale on Saturday night.

Despite the losses, CSP continued their solid play on the glass as they held an 80-72 rebounding edge, including an impressive 31-20 edge on the offensive glass.

Bryndan Matthews fell a rebound short of a double-double both nights as he led the team with 21.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game on the weekend. In addition, Brandon McRoy shattered his career-best on Friday night with 17 points and nine rebounds as he knocked down 10-12 at the free throw line.

MSUM SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter Wednesday's contest with a record of 11-19 against the Dragons. While Concordia has found success on their home court against MSUM with an 8-6 record, CSP has collected three wins in 16 trips to Moorhead. The Dragons have won the last four meetings on their home court as Concordia's last win in Moorhead came back on Dec. 12, 2009. That win wrapped up CSP's strongest stretch with MSUM as they claimed six wins in seven meetings from 2006-09. The lone meeting in the NSIC Tournament came back in 2014 in Moorhead as the Dragons claimed a 68-64 win.

LAST MEETING VS MSUM
Back on New Year's Eve, the Golden Bears saw MSU Moorhead pull away in the second half to grab a 74-60 win in Moorhead.

The Dragons took the lead back late in the first half to build a small lead heading into the break before using a 42-31 advantage after the break to pull away.
 
Rebounding played a role for the second night in a row as the Dragons used a 33-27 edge on the glass (13-9 on the offensive glass) to hold a 15-6 edge in second chance points. MSUM also held an advantage in the turnover category as they forced 13 CSP turnovers while turning it over nine times themselves.

It was the big men for the Golden Bears that paced the squad offensively with both Ted Brown and Max Keefe finishing in double figures. Brown hit 5-8 from the floor and 6-9 from the free throw line to pick up 16 points with four boards in his 23 minutes of action. Keefe finished in double figures for the fifth game in a row and the sixth time in his career with 11 points in 17 minutes off the bench.

ABOUT THE DRAGONS
#21 MSU Moorhead enters the NSIC Tournament riding high after winning their final seven regular season contests en route to claiming the NSIC North title. The Dragons have lost just four of their 28 games on the season, including a 10-2 record on their home court.

On Friday, the Dragons ecplised the century mark in a thrilling 104-97 win over St. Cloud State before grinding out a 62-56 victory over Minnesota Duluth in the regular season finale. MSU Moorhead spread the wealth offensively with four players registering at least 14.5 points per game on the weekend, led by Tanner Kretchman's 19.0 points and 7.0 assists. Aaron Lien, Ayob Ayob and Matt Anderson all added exactly 14.5 points per game to the mix.

On the season, the high-scoring trio of Aaron Lien, Tanner Kretchman and Ayob Ayob have helped pace the league-leading offense as all three average at least 15.0 points per game. Lien's 18.2 points lead the way to go along with a 57.8% field goal percentage and 5.0 boards. Kretchman lead the team with 6.7 assists per game while putting up 16.1 points while matching Ayob for the team lead with 70 threes made. Ayob comes in with 15.4 points and 5.1 rebounds as well.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears carry a 3-13 all-time record in the conference tournament including a 3-10 mark in opening round competition. Concordia is also 1-10 in tournament road games, with the only win coming in the 2004-05 season at Wayne State (93-84). The Golden Bears have yet to capture multiple wins in a conference tournament.

LAST YEAR IN THE TOURNAMENT
Last season, Concordia had its late season surge come to a close in the NSIC Sanford Health Tournament first round as the Golden Bears fell 76-72 to the University of Mary.
 
Shea Mandli led Concordia with 17 points in his final contest, making 5-9 from the floor and converting all seven free throw attempts. He also dished out four assists in a strong season in which he led the team in rebounding and was second on the team in assists and scoring.

Matt Ambriz made four three-pointers to finish with 16 points with four assists and just one turnover in 37 minutes while seniors Cole Olstad and Mike Yahnke added 12 and eight points, respectively with Olstad securing six rebounds to Yahnke's four. Each distributed three assists.

Senior Cole Olstad missed a contested game-tying three-pointer on the left wing with six seconds left, but the ball was deflected out by U-Mary giving Concordia another shot. Off the inbounds pass, the Marauders quickly fouled with 2.9 seconds to go, putting Concordia in the tough spot of needing a missed second free throw and offensive rebound to get a quick possession. After both free throws were off the mark, the Marauders rebounded and made one of two to seal the win.

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

Bryndan Matthews has been impressive filling up the stat sheet as he has put up top-25 numbers in seven different categories. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.4 rebounds per game rank sixth in the league (143rd in the nation) while his 5.5 defensive boards per game ranks fourth (115th in the nation). His 1.3 steals per game also ranks ninth in the league.

In addition, Diallo Powell ranks 15th in steals per game (1.1)  while Sam Siganos ranks 11th in assists per game (3.6) and 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7). Ted Brown also ranks 13th in shooting percentage (54.9%) and 17th blocks per game (0.7).

YOUNG GUNS
The Golden Bears feature a young roster this season with just two upperclassmen (both transfers) while the rest of the squad is in their freshman or sophomore campaigns. Over much of the second half of the year, Concordia has went especially young in the starting lineup with at least four freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup.

Freshman Sam Siganos has gotten things going in the conference season with at least four assists in 14 games while scoring in double figures in nine. Siganos has started the past 18 contests as his season line has moved to 7.2 points and 3.6 assists in 29 games.

Fellow freshman Ted Brown has been a regular in the lineup since the start of the year with 25 starts in his 28 appearances so far. The West Des Moines native ranks fourth on the team with 8.6 points and second with 4.7 rebounds while leading the way with 0.7 blocks per game and a 55.6% shooting percentage.

Max Keefe continues to develop into a consistent  threat for the Golden Bears in his first year on campus as he has scored in double figures in 12 games this season. Overall, the Wisconsin native is averaging 7.9 points and 3.2 rebounds on the year.

Freshman Carter Brooks has also come on strong in the final few weeks of the year with five or more points in five of the final seven games, including a career-high 10 points against Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday.