ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-9, 2-8 NSIC) saw Sioux Falls (12-4, 7-3 NSIC) build a big early advantage before handing the Golden Bears a 95-64 loss on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Cougars made it six straight wins over the Golden Bears as CSP fell to 6-17 in the all-time series with USF. Sioux Falls controlled the game in nearly every aspect as they were an impressive 16-31 (51.6%) from beyond the arc to fuel a 37-71 (52.1%) performance from the field while holding the Concordia to 37.3% (22-59) shooting and 41.7% (10-24) from deep. The 16 threes hit by the Cougars was a season high for a Concordia opponent. USF also held a big 43-31 rebounding edge for a 16-11 advantage in second chance points while also outscoring CSP 38-24 in the paint. The Cougars also turned 16 Golden Bear turnovers into 23 points while CSP turned 10 USF turnovers into 13 points.
 
Noah Kannegiesser provided a major bright spot for the Golden Bears as he turned in perhaps his best performance of his young career as he scored a career-best 15 points on 6-12 from the field and 2-3 from three-point range while also chipping in career highs in assists and steals with three apiece. Fellow freshman Hayden Baughman knocked down all three of his attempts from beyond the arc as he also scored in double figures with 11 points while sophomore Cody Carlson gave Concordia three underclassmen in double figures with 14 points and seven boards. Carlson's 14 points marked his fourth straight game with at least 11 points.
 
Trevon Evans put together a dominant effort for the Cougars as he led all players with 29 points on 11-24 shooting and 6-12 from three to go along with three boards, three assists and two steals on the night. Evans was one of four USF players in double figures in scoring as Drew Guebert had 14, Chase Grinde has 12, and Milan Surlic had 10. Guebert hit 3-4 from three-point range, Grinde was 5-6 from the floor, and Surlic added seven rebounds in the win.
 
The Cougars wasted little time in building a comfortable cushion as they scored the first 10 points of the night and held CSP off the board until the 15:41 mark. Concordia scored five of the next eight before another big run, this time an 11-0 run had the USF lead all the way out to 19 at 24-5 nearly midway through the half. The Sioux Falls lead grew to as many as 26 in the opening half at 35-9 with 5:53 to go before the break before the Golden Bears chopped it nearly in half heading to the locker room. CSP strung together a solid 23-11 run over the final six minutes to make it 46-32 at the half.
 
With the margin still at 14 at 52-38 three and a half minutes into the second half, Sioux Falls embarked on an extended 21-6 run to put the game out of reach. USF ballooned their lead to as many as 33 down the stretch before settling with a 95-64 final.
 
Concordia remains at home next weekend as they host St. Cloud State on Friday and Minnesota Duluth on Saturday.