ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (5-20, 4-14 NSIC) fell behind early and was unable to bounce back in a 90-56 loss to Winona State (17-8, 12-7 NSIC) at Gangelhoff Center on Friday night.
 
The Warriors continued their domination of CSP in the all-time series as they have picked up 45 wins in 51 meetings between the two schools. Winona State has been especially successful in St. Paul as they moved to 19-2 in 21 meetings in the Golden Bears' home gym.
 
Turnovers told the story as CSP committed 26 resulting in 24 points for the Warriors while Winona State turned it over just twice for no points for the Golden Bears. Bench scoring was similarly lopsided as WSU tallied 43 points off the bench while Concordia had eight. Winona State also out-rebounded CSP 34-25 on the night to go along with a 12-7 edge in three-pointers made.
 
Avan Ward paced the squad on the offensive end with a game-high 24 points on 8-19 shooting to go along with six boards. Ward has now scored 20 or more in eight games this year, including three of the last five.
 
Ahmad Newsome hit all three of his shots, including a pair of threes, to put up nine points while Bryndan Matthews added nine as well. Newsome also chipped in five rebounds and three assists while Matthews picked up six boards.
 
Four Warriors players hit double figures as Tommy Gathje scored 21 points on 8-11 from the floor to lead the way. Charlie Koontz followed with 17 and Devin Whitelow chipped in 16 as the duo combined for 33 of the team's 43 bench points.
 
Winona State set the tone from the opening tip as they scored the first seven points of the game while holding the Golden Bears scoreless for the first 4:23. CSP cut it back to five at 10-5 before breaking it open with a 12-2 burst to push it out to 15 at 22-7. After a Newsome three, WSU went right back at it with 11 in a row to extend the run to 23-5 and grow the lead to 23. Concordia was unable to shrink it back below 20 for the rest of the half as it grew to as many as 28 before Winona State settled with a 49-23 edge heading into the break.
 
The Warriors continued to maintain a comfortable lead of 20+ throughout the second half as they cruised to the victory. Winona State's lead reached 30 at the 11:16 mark at 69-38 before reaching a game-high 34 first at 83-49. WSU ended up winning by that same margin at 90-56.
 
Concordia closes out their home slate tomorrow night as they take on Upper Iowa at 6 p.m. on Senior Night.