ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-0) caught fire in the second half to claim an 86-71 season-opening win over Arkansas-Monticello (0-1) in the NSIC/GAC Crossover Challenge on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Golden Bears connected on 10-14 (71.4%) from three-point range after the break to finish the afternoon 13-27 (48.1%) from deep. CSP's 13 threes made were the most since they hit 14 against Augsburg on Nov. 22, 2016. Concordia was efficient from everywhere on the floor as they shot 50.8% (32-63) from the field and 81.8% (9-11) from the free throw line as well. Sharing the basketball played a big role in the performance as CSP assisted on 20 of their 32 field goals.
 
CSP controlled the game elsewhere as well with a 13-10 edge in turnovers forced leading to a 15-10 edge in points off of turnovers in addition to a 17-9 edge in fast break scoring.
 
While Concordia was successful offensively from beyond the arc, they limited the Boll Weevils from beyond the arc as well, holding UAM to just 4-22 (18.2%) from three in the game. Overall, Arkansas-Monticello knocked down 46.3% (31-67) of their shots and just 45.5% from the free throw line (5-11).
 
It was quite the debut for Isaiah McKay as the transfer from Nebraska Kearney led all players with 24 points and 10 rebounds while hitting an efficient 9-14 from the field and 3-5 from three. Fellow transfer Lee Higgins also filled the stat sheet in his debut with 12 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists in the win. Hayden Baughman added eight points and three assists in his debut.
 
In addition to the input from the newcomers, a pair of returners also played key roles in the win as Bryndan Matthews and Cody Carlson joined McKay and Higgins in double figures in scoring. Matthews contributed 14 points and five boards along with a career-best 10 assists while Carlson put up 12 points and seven rebounds on 5-9 shooting. Matthews fell one assist shy of the program record, matching the largest total since Ahmad Newsome dished out 10 against UPR Bayamon on Nov. 11, 2016.
 
Darnell Wright paced the Boll Weevils with 17 points on 8-12 shooting while Keelin Jackson chipped in 15 points and seven boards in the loss.
 
It was a bit of a slow start for the Golden Bears offensively as they hit just one of their first 10 shots to fall behind 8-4 five minutes into the game. The UAM lead reached six at 13-7 and again at 18-12 before a 7-2 run cut it to one at 20-19 just past the midway point of the first half. 10 of the next 12 went in favor of Arkansas-Monticello as they extended their lead to 30-21 before pushing it to double figures at 36-25 with 4:43 to go before the break. Concordia buckled down from there as they held the Boll Weevils off the board the rest of the half while scoring the final five points to make it 36-30 heading into the locker room at half.
 
Concordia managed to shoot just 35.5% (11-31) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes while hitting just 23.1% (3-11) from deep. Arkansas-Monticello, on the other hand, dominated down low with 10 of their 16 first half buckets coming in the paint as they outscored CSP 20-10 down low in the half.
 
After trading buckets to begin the second half, Concordia started to take control of the game about three minutes in. Still down six with 17:41 to play with the score at 41-35, the Golden Bears put together an extended 12-4 run spanning three and a half minutes to take their first lead of the game at 47-45.
 
They would not trail again as back-to-back threes a few minutes later from Max Keefe and Matthews followed by another bucket from Matthews pushed the lead to eight at 58-50. UAM battled back to within one possession at 61-58 with 8:44 left on the clock, but it was all Golden Bears from there. A massive 14-2 run ballooned the lead all the way out to 15 at 75-60 as McKay took over with eight points during that span. Concordia's lead remained 12 or more the rest of the way and grew to as many as 17 twice before settling in at a final score of 86-71.
 
The Golden Bears will look to build off the win tomorrow afternoon with a 2 p.m. tip-off against Arkansas Tech at Gangelhoff Center. UAM will take on Minnesota Crookston at noon, also at Gangelhoff Center.