ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (4-5, 0-4 NSIC) saw Upper Iowa (4-5, 1-3 NSIC) pull away in the second half in an 89-73 loss at Gangelhoff Center on Friday night.
The Peacocks made it eight wins in the last nine meetings between the two schools as CSP fell to 14-16 in the all-time series and 5-9 on their home court. Upper Iowa buried the Golden Bears from deep with 15 threes on 34 attempts (44.1%) while connecting on 50.8% (30-59) from the floor overall. Bench scoring also favored UIU in a big way as they outscored Concordia 48-14 off the bench.
On the other end, CSP finished just 20.7% from beyond the arc (6-29) and 41.8% (28-67) from the floor as they were unable to keep up their solid early season pace of efficiency. Concordia, however, did hold a 39-32 edge in rebounding, including an 11-3 edge on the offensive glass, as well as a 36-24 edge in points in the paint.
Isaiah McKay provided a bright spot for the Golden Bears with a game-high 26 points on 11-18 shooting to go along with eight boards while
Bryndan Matthews tacked on 18 points on 7-10 shooting with seven rebounds. No other Golden Bear reached double figures as
Elliot Kane scored seven points with three assists while
Lee Higgins and
Hayden Baughman each had six points.
The duo of Jackson Joens and Chris Olson made the difference off the bench for Upper Iowa as they combined for 46 of the team's 48 bench points on the night. Joens connected on 6-8 from three-point range and 9-11 from the field for 24 points while Chris Olson hit 4-5 from three and 7-13 overall to finish with 22 points and five assists.
The two teams traded buckets over the first five minutes with three lead changes and a tie before an extended 15-2 run turned a 12-9 Golden Bear lead into a 24-14 edge for the Peacocks. The UIU advantage grew to as many as 11 in the opening half starting at 28-17 with 8:32 left before CSP started to chip away. The differential flirted with double digits for much of the rest of the half until a
Bryndan Matthews three right before the buzzer cut it back to six at 42-36 heading into the break.
Upper Iowa opened the second half strong with five of the first six points of the half to extend it back to double figures before a quick 5-0 run the other way chopped that lead in half at 47-42. The momentum shifted back to Upper Iowa as four three-pointers highlighted a 17-4 run to give them their largest lead of the night to that point at 64-46. The Golden Bears answered with seven in a row to cut it to 11, but they were unable to bring it back to single digits as UIU regained control from there. The Peacocks maintained a lead of 12 or more the rest of the night as they cruised to an 89-73 victory.
The Golden Bears are back in action tomorrow night at Gangelhoff Center with Winona State coming to town. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
