ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-17, 2-12 NSIC) is set to finish off a five-game home stand this weekend with Bemidji State (8-11, 5-9 NSIC) coming to town on Friday and Minnesota Crookston (9-10, 5-8 NSIC) coming to town on Saturday.

VOLLEYBALL BANNER UNVEILING
Immediately following the conclusion of the women's basketball game on Saturday night against Minnesota Crookston, the Concordia-St. Paul athletic department will honor the Golden Bear volleyball team with an on-court ceremony commemorating their ninth NCAA Division II title in the past 11 years back in December. The team will be introduced individually and several members of the team and administration will speak prior to the 2017 banner being unveiled.

LAST TIME OUT
On Tuesday night at Gangelhoff Center, Concordia was unable to dig their way out of an early hole as they fell to Minnesota State by a score of 95-66.

Turnovers and three-point shooting buried the Golden Bears as the Mavericks outscored CSP 35-14 in points off of turnovers and 45-6 from beyond the arc to gain the decisive edge. MSU forced 23 Concordia turnovers compared to the 14 they committed. From the field, Minnesota State finished 47.2% (34-72), including 53.6% (15-28) from three-point range, while the Golden Bears hit 41.0% (25-61) and 18.2% (2-11) from three. In the opening 20 minutes of the night, Minnesota State hit a staggering 12-16 (75.0%) from deep while shooting 52.5% (21-40) overall from the floor.

Three different Concordia players scored in double figures on the night, led by Ted Brown's 13 points on a solid 6-8 from the floor. Brown also added six boards in 20 minutes on the night. Bryndan Matthews fell a rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points, nine rebounds and three assists while Evan Wesenberg chipped in 11 points and five boards off the bench. Wesenberg added a pair of blocks as well.

BSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter Friday night with a winning record against the Beavers as CSP has gone 16-15 in the previous 31 meetings. Concordia has turned the momentum heavily in their favor since 2005 as they have won 15 of the last 20 meetings since then. CSP had a four-game winning streak in the series snapped in last season's meeting. The Golden Bears have  been able to claim most of their wins in the series on their home court as Concordia has gone 11-4 in St. Paul against BSU.

LAST MEETING VS BSU
In the lone meeting last season, the Golden Bears saw Bemidji State pull away late in a 78-62 loss at Bemidji.

While the Concordia defense held the Beavers to 42.9% (24-56) from the floor, they were unable to get it going on the offensive end as they finished the night at 39.0% (23-59). Both teams attempted 22 shots from beyond the arc, but BSU took advantage of their opportunities with a 9-5 edge in made threes. Bemidji State also held a big edge at the free throw line as they hit 21-34 (61.8%) while CSP attempted just 17 and made 11 (64.7%).

The Beavers also benefitted from a 44-33 edge on the glass (13-9 edge on the offensive glass) as well as a 17-10 edge in points off of turnovers while the Golden Bears held their most decisive advantage in bench scoring with a 26-11 advantage in that area.
 
While the bench provided some offense for CSP, it was Sam Siganos' night to shine as he led the team with a career-best 19 points on an efficient 6-11 shooting and 4-6 from deep. His four made threes were also a career-high while he also chipped in a pair of assists and rebounds as well. Max Keefe and Ahmad Newsome collected 25 of the team's 26 points of the bench as Keefe provided 14 points and Newsome added 11.

ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Bemidji State just missed out on a home weekend sweep after an 80-73 win against (RV) Minot State University and an 88-80 overtime loss to University of Mary. BSU enters the weekend fifth in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference North Division standings, half a game out from University of Minnesota Duluth in fourth.

The Beavers enter the weekend sixth in the NSIC with 73.5 points allowed per game and 13th with 72.0 points scored per game. Bemidji State's 43.4 percent field goal defense comes in third in the league compared to its 45.3 percent shooting offense that comes in 13th.

Sharif Black continues to lead Bemidji State in scoring with 15.0 points per game, which ranks him 15th in the conference. Jai'Vionne Green follows close behind with 12.8 points per game, which ranks him 29th in the NSIC. 

UMC SERIES HISTORY
Concordia's meeting with Minnesota Crookston marks the 28th meeting between the two schools as CSP holds a record of 22-5 in 27 previous meetings with UMC. The Golden Bears have never lost back-to-back meetings to the Golden Eagles and have won nine of the last 10 against Minnesota Crookston. Concordia has put up nearly identical records at home and on the road against the Golden Eagles as they have gone 11-2 at home and 11-3 on the road.

LAST MEETING VS UMC
Back on Jan. 28 of last year, Concordia was unable to hold onto a halftime lead on the road as they fell to Minnesota Crookston by a score of 73-70.
 
It was a game of runs as CSP fell behind by double digits early before clawing back to take a four point lead heading into the half. The Golden Eagles then jumped back out to a big lead as they led by 13 with under 10 to play, but Concordia once again closed the gap and gave themselves a chance to take the lead in the closing seconds. After a steal gave the Golden Bears the ball down one with less than 10 minutes to play, CSP was unable to convert before UMC added two at the free throw line to bring it to a 73-70 final.

Concordia dominated in many aspects of the game as they held a 48.9% to 41.0% advantage in field goal percentage, 38-25 advantage in rebounding, 22-13 advantage in made free throws, and a 24-12 advantage in bench scoring, but turnovers and perimeter shooting proved to be the difference.

Bryndan Matthews was heavily relied upon as he played all 40 minutes and led the team with 17 points and nine boards to go along with three assists and three blocks in a full stat line. Max Keefe joined Matthews in double figures with 13 points while Brandon McRoy and Ted Brown added nine off the bench.

ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
After winning eight of their first 14 games of the season, including five of their first eight in NSIC play, Minnesota Crookston has dropped their last six games in a row.

Despite the slide, the Golden Eagles have one of the top defensive units in the league as they rank third in the NSIC in scoring defense (71.6) and fourth in field goal percentage defense (.450) while their 6.1 blocks per game lead the way in conference play. Minnesota Crookston has been a solid team from beyond the arc as their 8.4 threes made per game rank fifth and their 39.5% shooting percentage from deep ranks seventh in NSIC action.

Leading the way offensively for the Golden Eagles is Harrison Cleary. The sophomore sharpshooter sits a full 2.0 points higher than any other player in the league with a staggering 24.0 points per game. Cleary's 2.7 threes made per game rank third in the league while his 48.6% percentage from three-point range sits in seventh. In addition, Cleary also leads the NSIC with a near-perfect 95.7% (90-94) from the free throw line to go along with the seventh-most assists per game at 4.2.

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

Bryndan Matthews has been impressive filling up the stat sheet as he has put up top-15 numbers in five different categories. Matthews cleaned up the boards at a solid rate as his 7.3 rebounds per game rank fourth in the league (157th in the nation) while his 2.6 offensive boards per game rank second (117th in the nation) as well. The junior has also been the team's go-to scorer as his 15.9 points per game rank 11th while he also ranks third in minutes per game (35.4).

In addition, Ted Brown ranks inside the top-15 in a few categories with his 62.1% shooting percentage (fourth) and 1.9 offensive rebounds per game (12th) while Avan Ward registers in at fifth in threes made per game with 2.3.

REACHING 1,000
Junior Brydan Matthews has been a major contributor throughout his three seasons on campus, becoming the 18th member of the 1,000 point club at Concordia. The Eagan native currently sits at 1,097 points in his career, putting him in 15th place in CSP history. Matthews is within range of several other players as his total falls just 21 points shy of 13th place.