SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-11, 3-10 NSIC) fell on the road to Augustana (13-6, 9-4 NSIC), 78–70 at the Elmen Center in Sioux Falls. The two teams were tied at 41 at halftime, but the Vikings had the better second half to pull out the home victory.
 
The senior pair of Isaiah McKay and Bryndan Matthews led the Bears on the day. McKay ended with a game-high 19 points, while also adding five assists and four rebounds. Matthews did a little bit of everything in the contest, scoring 16 points, while also collecting nine rebounds, five assists, and a steal. Matthews is now 143 points behind the CSP all-time leading scorer, Craig Heiman.
 
Sophomore Cody Carlson was the final Golden Bear to finish in double figures, knocking down 50.0% (5-10) of his shots for 12 points on the night. The Duluth native also had seven rebounds and a block.
 
Concordia shot 41.3% (26-63) on the night, but Augustana shot slightly better at 44.6% (29-65). The Bears did outshoot the Vikings from three, making 36.7% (11-30) of their shots compared to Augustana's 26.7% (8-30). CSP held a slight rebounding edge in the game (39-36), but the Vikings capitalized on their nine offensive boards, scoring 13 second chance points compared to CSP's four.  
 
Concordia got off to a hot start in the game, making their first four field goals to take a quick 10-2 lead over the Vikings. From there, the two teams traded baskets for the next few minutes before Augustana used a seven-point run to tie the game up at 16 points apiece. Matthews then stepped up, hitting back-to-back threes to once again give CSP the lead.
 
Later in the half, Concordia used a seven-point run of their own to take a 30-23 lead, forcing Augustana to call a timeout. The Vikings regrouped, tying the game at 36 with a little over two minutes to play and making a three to tie the game at 41 going into the halftime break.  
 
To start the second half, Augustana had the hot hand, going on a 10-2 run to take a 51-43 lead. There was a three minute scoring draught from there, which was broken by a Hayden Baughman three. Baughman would hit another big three, cutting the Viking lead to four, at 54-50 with ten minutes left to play.
 
Further along in the half, McKay hit a three with four minutes left to cut Augustana's lead to two and he followed it up with a layup at 2:48 to get the game within one. The Vikings refused to give up the lead, though, scoring the next five straight, going on to win by eight.
 
Augustana presented a balanced offense, as they had four players in double figures. Sophomore A.J. Plitzuweit was the top scorer with 18 points, hitting 5-10 from the floor and going 7-7 from the line. Sophomore teammate Jameson Bryan was close behind with 16 points, while also dishing out five assists.
 
The Golden Bears are back in action tomorrow, taking on Wayne State in Nebraska at 3:30 p.m. Don't miss any of the action with live stat and video links that can be found on the schedule page.