ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (5-20, 2-16 NSIC) will look to carry the momentum of Saturday's win into this weekend's road trip to Winona State (10-12, 7-11 NSIC) and Upper Iowa (16-8, 13-5 NSIC).

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears followed up Friday night's loss to St. Cloud State with a win over Minnesota Duluth on Saturday.

On Friday, CSP saw the Huskies shoot 54.0% from the floor while shooting just 33.9% themselves as SCSU cruised to an 88-56 win.

The Golden Bears snapped their 14-game losing streak on Saturday as they scored a season-high 95 points in a 95-85 win over UMD. CSP jumped out to a seven point lead at the half while shooting 65.5% before finishing the night with a mark of 59.3% as well as a 44-20 edge in points in the paint.

Diallo Powell gave the Golden Bears a big spark off the bench with a team-leading 21.0 points per game, including a career-high 27 points in the win over UMD, to go along with 4.0 boards and 1.5 steals in the two games. While Powell was pacing the bench unit, Bryndan Matthews led CSP starters with 17.5 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting an even 50.0% (13-26) from the floor on the weekend.

WSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears head into Friday's trip to Winona State with a record of 6-42 against the Warriors. Amazingly, WSU won the first 31 meetings from 1986-2008 before CSP registered their first win in the series. Despite the overall record, Concordia has been successful against the Warriors in the past few years with three wins in the past four in four in the past eight meetings. In 25 trips to Winona, CSP is 4-21.

LAST MEETING VS WSU
Back on Dec. 10, the Golden Bears picked up their first conference win of the season with an 82-75 win over Winona State at Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia took advantage of an efficient shooting night as they hit 51.0% (25-49) from the floor, 52.6% (10-19) from beyond the arc and 81.5% (22-27) from the free throw line on the night. The defense also played a role in the win as they held the Warriors to 40.9% (27-66) in the win.

Bryndan Matthews and Matt Ambriz combined to do a lot of the heavy lifting offensively as Mattews led all players with 23 points on 7-11 from the floor while Ambriz connected on 5-9 from deep to finish with 20 points. Matthews also contributed elsewhere with a game-best 13 rebounds for a massive double-double as well as a pair of assists and a pair of threes made.

Diallo Powell rounded out the double digit scoring in the starting lineup as he picked up 12 points, five boards, three steals, two blocks and two assists.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS
A weekend after picking up a pair of wins at home over Minot State and U-Mary, the Warriors were handed two road losses at MSU Moorhead and Northern State to fall back below .500 on the year. Heading into the weekend, WSU holds a record of 10-12 overall while sitting in sixth in the NSIC South with a record of 7-11 in league play.

It was a tough weekend for Winona State as they fell 85-63 at MSU Moorhead on Friday before taking an 85-58 loss at Northern State on Saturday. The Warriors saw both of their opponents shoot high percentages (MSUM at 47.4% and NSU at 52.6%) while struggling from the floor themselves (40.3% and 41.5%). Despite the losses, Riley Bambenek bounced back after a quiet night with seven points on Friday before leading all scorers with 25 points on Saturday.

On the season, Bambenek had been a steady leader with a team-best 15.1 points in a lineup that has seen nine different players make starts. Joining Bambenek in double figures for the Warriors are Isaiah Gray (11.5 PPG), Tommy Gathje (11.0 PPG) and Kyle Bauman (10.7 PPG) while Connor Flack and Corey Jeffs have chipped in 8.5 and 8.0 points, respectively. WSU is also fairly equal in the rebounding category with seven different players averaging at least 3.2 rebounds while three players have chipped in at least 3.0 assists.

UIU SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Saturday's matchup, the Golden Bears hold a record of 14-12 against the Peacocks. CSP has found most of their success against UIU in Fayette as they have won nine of 12 meetings there, including five of the last six. Concordia's best stretch in the series came from 2004-12 with a record of 11-3 during that span. Since December 2014, Upper Iowa has gone 4-1 in the series.

LAST MEETING VS UIU
Back on Dec. 9, Concordia didn't have an answer for Upper Iowa's perimeter game on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center as the Peacocks made 15-of-21 from three-point range to defeat the Golden Bears 92-71 in CSP's NSIC home opener

The Golden Bears fell behind by as many as 20 late in the first half and trailed 48-30 at the break. UIU made 8-of-10 from the arc in the half. Concordia got hot in the second half, trimming the lead to seven at 56-49 with 13:41 left before UIU pulled away for the win.

Four players scored in double-figures for Concordia led by Matthews' 17 points on 7-12 shooting including 2-3 from the arc. He led the team with five rebounds. Senior Diallo Powell added 14 points and four rebounds, Ambriz knocked down four three-pointers (4-6) and scored 12 points and Ahmad Newsome was 5-7 from the field and had 10 points, four rebounds and a 4-1 assist-turnover ratio. But the rest of the squad combined to shoot 5-23 from the floor and the bench was outscored 27-12.

Jordan Hay made nine of his 11 shots and had game-highs of 23 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots. Luke Lenhart, Carson Parker and Josh Weeber combined to make 12-of-13 from three-point range, scoring 14, 13 and 15 points, respectively.

ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
Upper Iowa has put together an impressive season with a record of 16-8 and 13-5 in league play, putting them in second in the NSIC South. UIU held the top spot following a five-game winning streak before falling at Northern State and MSU Moorhead this past weekend.

Last weekend, UIU saw the Wolves pull away late for an 83-72 final on Friday before dropping a high-scoring affair by a score of 93-85 against the Dragons on Saturday. The contest at MSUM featured 13 ties, 13 lead changes, 23 three-pointers, and 178 combined points as the Dragons scored 10 of the final 12 points for the win. Carson Parker led the Peacocks with 26 points, his second-best total of the season, on an extremely efficient 10-13 from the field including 4-5 from behind the arc. The sophomore point guard also totaled a team-high six rebounds (four offensive) and three assists to stuff the stat sheet

A big reason for the Peacocks' success has been their continuity and balance. UIU has ran out the same starting five all 24 games this season as each of the five are averaging double figures scoring. Jordan Hay leads the way with 12.3 points while Jimmy Roth follows close behind with 12.1 points. Carson Parker registers in next with 11.5 points, and Dennis Austin III and Luke Lenhart round out the group with 10.8 and 10.0 apiece.

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 eight different categories. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.2 rebounds per game rank sixth in the league (156th in the nation) while his 5.4 defensive boards per game also ranks sixth (124th in the nation). His 50.8% field goal percentage also ranks 10th.

In addition, Diallo Powell ranks 14th in steals per game (1.2)  while Sam Siganos ranks 11th in assists per game (3.4) and 15th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7).

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 the past several games, Concordia's has went especially young in the starting lineup with at least four freshmen and sophomores in the starting lineup.

Freshman Max Keefe continues to develop into a consistent  threat for the Golden Bears as he has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 16 games and 12 of the last 20. In the last 14 games, Keefe has put up 10.7 points per game to move his season average up to 8.6 points per game.

Sam Siganos is another freshman who has gotten things going the past few weeks with at least four assists in 10 games while scoring in double figures in seven. Siganos has started the past 14 contests as his season line has moved to 6.9 points and 3.4 assists in 25 games.

Fellow freshman Ted Brown has been a regular in the lineup since the start of the year with 21 starts in his 24 appearances so far. The West Des Moines native ranks fifth on the team with 8.1 points and second with 4.7 rebounds while leading the way with 0.7 blocks per game and a 52.3% shooting percentage.