ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (5-21, 4-16 NSIC) suffered a heart-breaking loss in their regular season home finale as they saw a last second shot rattle out in a 74-73 loss to Upper Iowa (15-14, 8-12 NSIC) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears led for 31:10 on the night, including nearly the entire second half until a Quentin Blaue gave the Peacocks the decisive edge at 74-73. The loss dropped the Golden Bears below .500 in the all-time series with Upper Iowa as they fell to 14-15 in 29 meetings.
Concordia utilized a hefty 51-33 edge on the glass, including a huge 17-3 edge in offensive boards, to finish with 18 more shot attempts on the night but were unable to take advantage. CSP finished at 39.2% (29-74) from the floor while UIU connected on 44.6% (25-56) overall. The Peacocks also out-paced Concordia 11-8 from deep and hit 13 free throws compared to seven for CSP.
CSP also registered a solid 34-24 advantage in points in the paint, a 17-9 advantage in points off of turnovers, a 13-3 advantage in second chance points and a 10-0 advantage in fast break points in the loss.
Bryndan Matthews paced the squad with his fifth 20-10 game of the season as he led all players with 21 points and 10 boards on the night. Matthews also chipped in four steals and three assists despite being banged up throughout the night.
Avan Ward added a double-digit effort with 16 points with four threes while
Brandon McRoy chipped in nine and
Elliot Kane put up eight off the bench.
Max Keefe and
Evan Wesenberg each contributed nine boards in the effort.
Carson Parker carried the load for Upper Iowa as he nearly triple-doubled with 18 points, 12 assists and eight boards in a big night while Quentin Blaue hit five threes and scored 17 in the win.
It was a slow start offensively for both squads as neither team knocked down better than 32.4% from the floor in the opening half as CSP hit 12-37 (32.4%) compared to just 9-32 (28.1%) for the Peacocks. After the two teams traded buckets throughout the first several minutes, UIU connected on three free throws and a layup to turn an 11-9 Concordia lead into a 14-11 lead of their own. The Golden Bears answered with seven in a row on the other end to regain the lead just past the midway point of the period. CSP led for the rest of the half as they followed up an Upper Iowa basket with an extended 13-4 burst to push their lead to double digits at 31-20. Upper Iowa closed out the half on a 5-0 run to cut it to 31-25 at the break.
The Upper Iowa run continued in the second as they rattled off 10 of the first 14 to tie the game at 35-35 two minutes into the half. CSP responded with nine of 11 to regain a seven point edge as they remained out front for much of the rest of the game. The differential fluctuated within a few possessions as the Golden Bears had an answer for every UIU bucket over the next several minutes until an 8-1 run for CSP pushed it back to double figures at 60-50 with 10:37 to go. The lead was still at 10 at 65-55 and eight at 73-65 with 2:55 on the clock before the Peacocks made their run.
Back-to-back threes for UIU cut the deficit to two with two to play before Quentin Blaue added another with 1:10 left to give the Peacocks their first lead since early in the first half. The Golden Bears had four chances to tie it in the final minute but were unable to capitalize on any of them as Upper Iowa held on.
Bryndan Matthews put up a fadeaway jumper from six feet out as time expired but it rimmed out to give the Peacocks a 74-73 victory.
The Golden Bears close out the regular season on the road next weekend as they travel to Sioux Falls on Friday and Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday.
