ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (5-7, 0-6 NSIC) hits the road to open 2019 as they travel to University of Mary (6-6, 3-3 NSIC) on Friday and Minot State (6-9, 1-5 NSIC) on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
On Sunday, Concordia fell to Minnesota State in the team's final contest before the New Year by a score of 92-60 at Gangelhoff Center.

Minnesota State held CSP to just 39.7% (23-58) from the floor and 16.7% (3-18) from three while also forcing 19 turnovers and committing just six in the win. The Mavericks finished the game at 45.2% (33-73) on the offensive end while also knocking down 43.8% (14-32) from deep in the game.

Bryndan Matthews paced the Golden Bears on the night with his fifth double-double on the season with 17 points and 10 boards as he connected on 7-10 from the floor. Lee Higgins also reached double figures with 10 points to go along with seven rebounds while Isaiah McKay and Cody Carlson each added eight points.

MARY SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears take a 13-8 record against the Marauders into this weekend's matchup between the two schools. While Concordia has put up a solid 6-4 record on their home court against U-Mary, they have been even better in Bismarck with seven wins in nine trips there. Heading into a meeting in the NSIC Tournament two seasons ago, CSP had rattled off six straight wins in the series before the Marauders snapped that streak. U-Mary followed up that victory with another before the Golden Bears got back in the win column last season.

LAST MEETING VS MARY
In last season's meeting, CSP did not hold a lead the entire night until four Avan Ward free throws in the final seven seconds gave the Golden Bears a 70-66 comeback win at University of Mary.

CSP trailed from the 18:09 mark of the first half until the 2:13 mark of the second half as they played from behind from nearly start to finish before closing out the game on a 14-2 run to claim the victory. The Golden Bears trailed by as many as 12 on the night, including 11 in the second half, as the team trailed for all but 3:11 in the game.
 
The duo of Avan Ward and Bryndan Matthews did the heavy lifting on the offensive end for CSP as the pair combined for 46 of the team's 70 points. Ward eclipsed 20+ points for the fourth time in six games as he matched his career best with 27 points. The sophomore hit 9-16 from the floor and 6-6 from the free throw line to go along with four boards and two assists. Matthews scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half as he connected on 9-14 shooting while chipping in seven boards, three steals and two assists on the night.

As a team, the Golden Bears were extremely efficient from the field as they put up their best shooting percentage of the year at 59.6% (28-47) compared to 49.1% (26-53) for the Marauders. Concordia also led the way on the glass with a 28-23 rebounding edge, a 38-26 edge in points in the paint, and an 8-0 edge in second chance points.

ABOUT THE MAURADERS
University of Mary enters 2019 with an even record of 6-6 overall and 3-3 in NSIC play. It's been season filled with ups and downs as the Marauders dropped their first three games before rattling off six wins in seven to move two games above .500. UMary then closed out 2018 with a pair of conference losses.

The Mauraders have been nearly unbeatable on their home court so far this season as they have gone 5-1 in Bismarck with their lone loss at home coming at the hands of St. Cloud State. The team's success away from home has been a different story as they have gone 1-3 on the road and 0-2 at a neutral site. UMary's last two contests of 2018 resulted in road losses as they fell to Northern State 76-59 and Minot State 77-61.

UMary has played at an extremely slow pace so far this season as they currently average 68.2 points as a team while holding opponents to just 65.3. The Marauders' 66.7 points per game in NSIC action ranks dead last in the league while their 71.7 points per game allowed ranked in the top half at sixth. Jaylan White (14.0 PPG), Tom Kubank (11.7 PPG) and Matthew Kreklow (11.3 PPG) register in as the top three scorers for the Marauders as the three account for 54.3% of the team's scoring on the year.

MiSU SERIES HISTORY
Concordia's all-time series history with Minot State features just six previous meetings as the Beavers have won five of those six contests. CSP's lone win against Minot State came in St. Paul back in 2014 as the Golden Bears have gone 1-2 on their home court and 0-3 on the road in the series. MiSU has won each of the past four contests since that CSP win.

LAST MEETING VS MiSU
Back on Jan. 13, 2018, the Golden Bears dropped a back-and-forth contest at Minot State by a score of 80-67 to wrap up a four game road trip.

It proved to be a game of runs as the contest featured nine ties and nine lead changes throughout the night. In addition, there were a combined 10 different runs of at least seven points, including three that were double digits.
 
Concordia cleaned up on the glass with a solid 14-7 edge in offensive boards and a 38-33 edge in rebounds, but they weren't able to turn it into a victory. A big reason for that was a significant shooting discrepancy. Minot State connected on 47.5% (28-59) from the field and a perfect 100.0% (16-16) from the free throw line while CSP finished at 39.7% (25-63) shooting and 73.3% (11-15) from the charity stripe. MiSU also held a 12-4 advantage in points off of turnovers as well as a 17-13 advantage in bench scoring on the night.
 
It was once again the combination of Avan Ward and Bryndan Matthews that accounted for a large chunk of Concordia's offensive output with 35 of the team's 67 points. Ward led the way with 18 points on 6-14 shooting as he connected on three three-pointers while Matthews chipped in 17 points as well. Ward added three boards and three assists while Matthews contributed eight rebounds.

ABOUT THE BEAVERS
After winning three of their first four games and taking a 5-4 record into league play, Minot State has picked up just one win in six NSIC games so far. The Beavers entered the final game of 2018 still looking for their first conference win and found it with a 77-61 win at home against their travel partner, UMary.

While life on the road has been tough for the Beavers as they have gone 0-5 in road games and 2-2 in neutral site games, Minot State has picked up four wins in six games on their home court. MiSU opened the season with wins in their first three at home before seeing that streak snapped by UMD and SCSU.

Minot State enters the weekend with four players averaging double figures, led by 18.0 per night from David Akibo. Kyle Beisch and Max Cody have added 12.8 points and 12.7 points, respectively, while Dorian Aluyi has chipped in 10.7 per game.

NCAA/NSIC LEADERS
Heading into the weekend, the Golden Bears had 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 early on this season as he ranks fifth in the conference and 43rd in NCAA DII in scoring (20.8) while ranking third in the conference and 43rd in the nation in rebounding (9.0). Matthews also registers in at fifth in the NSIC and 84th in the nation in assists per game (4.7), sixth in the NSIC in offensive rebounds per game (2.5), third in the NSIC and 37th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.7) and first in the NSIC and 20th in the nation in field goal percentage (62.3%) all in an NSIC-leading 38.8 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 (19.8) to rank eighth in the league and rank 58th in the country while ranking fifth in the conference in threes made per game (2.7), 10th in the conference in defensive rebounds per game (5.3) and 11th in the conference in assists per game (3.3).

Hayden Baughman also ranks sixth in the league in threes made per game (2.5) as well as 14th in three-point percentage (44.1%).

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 third in scoring (1,516) and rebounding (689), fourth in rebounds per game (7.0), second in field goals made (559), second in free throws made (337), eighth in assists (240) and ninth in steals (121) in his career at CSP. Matthews sits just 30 points behind Terez VanPelt for second in program history heading into Sunday.