ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-9, 2-8 NSIC) is back at home for the second consecutive weekend as they play host to St. Cloud State (12-4, 7-3 NSIC) on Friday and Minnesota Duluth (8-6, 5-5 NSIC) on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, Concordia stifled SMSU for much of the night before surviving a late run to pick up a 76-70 win on Friday before seeing USF pull away for a 95-64 win on Saturday.

The Golden Bears got to the free throw line early and often on the weekend as they knocked down 85.0% (34-40) from the free throw line while their opponent hit just 50.0% (10-20). Both opponents knocked down double-digit threes as they combined to go 27-62 (43.5%) while CSP finished at 16-43 (37.2%) from deep.

Sophomore Cody Carlson put up one of his best weekends as a Golden Bear as he led the way with 18.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while hitting 56.5% (13-23) from the floor and 57.1% (4-7) from three. Freshman Noah Kannegiesser also put together a breakthrough weekend as he led the team with 15 points on Saturday to finish the weekend with 10.5 points on 50.0% (7-14) shooting and 75.0% (3-4) from three-point range.

SCSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears will meet the Huskies for the 27th time in series history on Friday as CSP has gone 6-20 in the previous 26 meetings. Concordia's best stretch in the series came between 2010-12 as they won three of four meetings during that span. Since then, SCSU has won six of the last seven with their lone win coming on Jan. 3, 2015 in St. Paul. In 12 meetings in St. Paul, CSP has gone 4-8.

LAST MEETING VS SCSU
After a hot start on the road in last season's meeting, Concordia-St. Paul was unable to keep pace with host St. Cloud State in a 94-56 loss on Feb. 2 at Halenbeck Hall.

Evan Wesenberg led Concordia with an 11 point, nine rebound performance in 21 minutes off the bench including six offensive rebounds. Avan Ward added 11 points and a pair of assists and each player had a blocked shot. Freshman Cody Carlson chipped in nine points and seven rebounds off the bench while Bryndan Matthews also had seven points.

SCSU countered with five players in double figures led by Adam Heede-Andersen's 21 points on 7-9 shooting including 5-7 from three-point range. Brindley Theisen was 5-6 from three for 15 points and Jake Mussman added 3-4 three-point shooting and 11 points off the bench in 10 minutes.

As a team, SCSU drained 13-of-22 from the arc (.591) while the Heede-Andersen, Theisen and Mussman trio made all 13 of those three-pointers in 17 attempts.

ABOUT THE HUSKIES
Preseason favorites in the NSIC North, St. Cloud State have rattled off 12 wins in their first 16 games this season, including seven wins in 10 NSIC contests. 

The Huskies have already put together three different streaks of three wins in a row or more as they won their first three of the season along with their last three in a row with another four-game winning streak sandwiched in between. Over the past few weeks, SCSU has bounced back from their first back-to-back losses of the season against UMD and UMC with wins over BSU, MiSU and UMary. 

SCSU is led by the NSIC's all-time leading scorer in Gage Davis. Davis has put up yet another impressive stat line in his senior season as he leads the team with 23.0 points on 51.1% from the floor to go along with 8.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The senior is joined by Brindley Theisen and Sean Smith in double figures in scoring as Theisen averages 13.9 points while Smith averages 13.8 points and 8.6 boards.

UMD SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Saturday's matchup, the Golden Bears hold a record of 13-14 against the Bulldogs. The momentum has been heavily shifted in CSP's favor in the past few years as they have won 13 of the last 17 and and nine of the last 11 in the series. Concordia has been especially dominant on their home court against Minnesota Duluth as they have won six straight at Gangelhoff Center dating back to a 72-55 loss all the way back on Dec. 29, 2006. Overall, CSP holds a 7-6 record in St. Paul against UMD.

LAST MEETING VS UMD
Last year on Feb. 3, 2018, the Golden Bears put together a feverish comeback as they erased 16-point deficit to claim an 88-85 overtime win at Minnesota Duluth.

The Golden Bears went into the half down by 16 and remained behind by 13 with 7:32 to play before a crucial 18-5 run tied it up in the final minute. Avan Ward added another game-tying bucket with eight seconds left to force overtime as CSP pulled away in the extra frame.
 
It proved to be quite a night for Ward as he flew past his career high with 33 points on an excellent 11-20 shooting and 6-9 from deep in the win. His 33 point outburst was the first 30+ point performance for the Golden Bears since Cole Olstad poured in 30 against U-Mary in the 2012-13 season. It's also the highest total since Craig Heiman scored 36 against SMSU in 2009-10. Ward also chipped in four assists, four rebounds and two steals.
 
Bryndan Matthews nearly made it two players to reach that mark on the night as he put up 28 points on just 13 shots as he went 8-13 from the field. He reached the free throw line a staggering 20 times, hitting 12 of them. He also had six boards, three assists and a pair of steals. Matthews has now scored at least 28 points in three of the last four games.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
After a tough year in which UMD went 12-18 overall and 7-15 in NSIC action, Minnesota Duluth enters the weekend with an even 5-5 record in league play and an 8-6 mark overall this year.

The Bulldogs got off to a fast start with five wins in their first six before dropping three in a row. UMD followed those losses with wins in three of their last five. Last weekend, the Bulldogs fell to UMary 100-98 in a high-scoring matchup on Friday before pulling out a 77-70 win over Minot State.

Minnesota Duluth's go-to guy this season has been Brandon Myer as the junior big man has put up 21.6 points, 9.9 boards and 2.8 assists per game on the year. Sean Burns has also been a significant contributor with 14.1 points and 7.8 rebounds while Logan Rohrscheib has added 11.8 points per night as well.

NCAA/NSIC LEADERS
Heading into the weekend, the Golden Bears have several players rank near the top of the NSIC and the nation in different statistical categories.

Bryndan Matthews has been one of the top players in the country this season as he ranks eighth in the conference and 70th in NCAA DII in scoring (19.1) while ranking third in the conference and 64th in the nation in rebounding (8.83. Matthews also registers in at fifth in the NSIC and 119th in the nation in assists per game (4.1), 10th in the NSIC in offensive rebounds per game (2.2), sixth in the NSIC and 63rd in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3) and second in the NSIC and 19th in the nation in field goal percentage (61.2%) all in an NSIC-leading 38.1 minutes per game.
 
In addition, Isaiah McKay ranks near the top in quite a few categories as well. McKay ranks just behind Matthews in scoring (19.1) to rank seventh in the league and rank 67th in the country while ranking eighth in the conference in threes made per game (2.5) and 125th in the country, ninth in the conference in defensive rebounds per game (4.9) and 10th in the conference in assists per game (3.4).

Hayden Baughman also ranks 11th in the league in threes made per game (2.4) as well as 13th in three-point percentage (45.2%).

CLIMBING THE RANKS
Senior Bryndan Matthews has been a major contributor throughout his four seasons on campus and is climbing the career ranks at Concordia. The Eagan native is up to second in scoring (1,572), third in rebounding (713), fourth in rebounds per game (6.9), second in field goals made (580), second in free throws made (351), sixth in assists (250) and sixth in steals (125) in his career at CSP. Matthews is 196 points shy of Craig Heiman for the all-time scoring record at Concordia.