SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (6-25) fell to Minnesota State (21-9) by a score of  73-51 in the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon 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 on Wednesday night. The loss drops Concordia to 4-14 all-time in the NSIC Tournament, including a record of 2-9 in quarterfinal matchups. Against Minnesota State, CSP now holds a record of 6-22.
 
The Mavericks advance to face the winner of Upper Iowa and St. Cloud State in the semifinals on Monday night.
 
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.
 
The Golden Bears continued their late season success on the glass as they out-rebounded the Mavericks 37-34 in the loss.
 
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. Powell finishes his CSP career with 630 points in his two seasons.
 
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.
 
Aarias Austin was at the center of the MSU attack as he scored 13 of his game-high 21 points after the break while also chipping in seven boards, five assists and a pair of steals in the win.
 
Joey Witthus and Jay Knuth also registered double figures as Witthus hit 7-12 for 16 points and seven rebounds while Knuth hit 4-8 for 11 points.
 
Offense was hard to come by in the opening few minutes as both teams limited their opponent to tough shots. MSU took the first five points of the game before CSP grabbed their first bucket of the game at the 17:40 mark with a Ted Brown lay in. Two more buckets gave the Golden Bears their only lead of the half at 6-5 before Minnesota State regained the lead. The lead for the Mavericks returned to five with a 6-0 run of their own, but CSP came back with five in a row to even it up at 11. The momentum seemed to be shifting in favor of Minnesota State from there as they built an eight point advantage at the midway point of the half at 19-11, but Concordia once again showed their resilience as they stemmed the tide.
 
The lead remained at eight at 21-13 before Diallo Powell helped spark an 8-1 burst to bring it back to within a possession with less than five minutes to go before the break. Two straight buckets pushed it back to seven before three straight for CSP, sandwiched around some big defensive stops, cut the deficit all the way down to one at 26-25 heading into the locker room.
 
Ted Brown opened the scoring in the second half to put the Golden Bears up by a point at 27-26, but that would be the last lead they would hold. Minnesota State grabbed the next seven points to help spark a larger 18-4 run spanning just over two minutes to give them their first double-digit lead of the day. CSP got it down below 10 with back-to-back baskets, but another 7-0 burst pushed the lead all the way out to 15 at 50-35 with 12:04 remaining. Concordia cut it to 11 at the 10:48 mark and remained within 12 at the 7:58 mark, but that was all the closer they would get as MSU put it out of reach from there. The lead grew to as many as 22 at the final margin of 73-51.