MARSHALL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (5-23, 4-18 NSIC) saw Southwest Minnesota State (21-7, 17-5 NSIC) pull away late in the first half as the Golden Bears fell 80-59 in the regular season finale on Saturday night.
The Golden Bears, the eighth seed in the NSIC South, will face Northern State, the first seed in the NSIC North, in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday night. Tip-off for that contest is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Aberdeen with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals at Sanford Pentagon.
SMSU claimed their fifth consecutive win in the series as CSP dropped to 10-29 in the all-time series, including 3-17 in Marshall. With the win, Southwest Minnesota State also claimed a share of their second consecutive NSIC South title as they finished in a tie for the top spot with Minnesota State after defeating the Mavericks last night.
Three-point shooting played a big role as SMSU hit 14-33 (42.4%) from beyond the arc compared to just 4-17 (23.5%) for the Golden Bears as the Mustangs outscored CSP by 30 in that area. SMSU's ability to take care of the ball allowed them to attempt nine more shots than Concordia as they committed just two while CSP had eight. Overall from the floor, Southwest Minnesota State finished at 45.2% (28-62) while Concordia hit 39.6% (21-53).
Concordia's main offensive duo of
Avan Ward and
Bryndan Matthews both reached double figures while
Ted Brown joined in from the bench. Ward led the way with 16 points and six boards while Matthews and Brown each added 11 points apiece.
While
Ahmad Newsome contributed just three points, he did chip in six rebounds and four assists while
Brandon McRoy contributed six boards as well.
KJ Davis and Michael Lee paced the Mustangs offensively as Davis led all scorers with 22 and Lee put up 20.
The Mustangs opened the night with the first five points of the game as they led wire-to-wire in the contest. SMSU continued to add to their lead as it hit seven at 14-7 and 10 at 22-12 following an 8-2 run midway through the half. With the lead still at 10 at 25-15, Ward keyed a 7-0 burst to close the gap back to one possession at the 7:15 mark of the first half at 25-22. That would be short-lived, however, as Southwest Minnesota State closed the half on an impressive run. Following a
Cody Carlson layup at the 6:30 mark, Concordia connected on just one field goal the rest of the half. While CSP scored just six points during that span, SMSU put up 20, including the final 10 of the half to take a 48-30 lead into the break.
The second half picked up where the first half left off as the Mustangs scored the first five points to extend the run to 15-0 and push their lead to 23 with 17:50 left on the clock. Concordia finally slowed the momentum with five points in a row to pull the deficit back under 20. The different hovered in that area for much of the rest of the night as the Golden Bears were unable to string together enough buckets to make a run. The closest they would get the rest of the way was within 17 at 64-47 with 8:39 left before SMSU put it completely out of reach. The lead grew to as many as 25 down the stretch before the Mustangs settled with an 80-59 final.
