WINONA, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (3-5, 1-3 NSIC) was unable to turn another impressive offensive performance into a victory as they fell to Winona State (5-6, 2-3 NSIC) on Saturday night.
The Golden Bears were unable to continue their recent run of success against the Warriors as WSU improved to 47-7 in the all-time series and 24-5 in Winona with the victory.
For the third consecutive contest, the Golden Bears shot 50.0% or better from the floor as they finished at 50.9% (29-57) in the game. CSP was also efficient from beyond the arc and at the charity stripe as they finished at 47.6% (10-21) from three-point range and 81.8% (9-11) from the free throw line. Concordia was especially effective in the first half as they connected on 63.0% (17-27) from the floor and 66.7% (6-9) from deep in the opening 20 minutes.
The Golden Bears also managed a 33-28 advantage in rebounding as well as a 36-34 advantage in points in the paint. Turnovers played a major role as 17 Concordia turnovers led to 22 points for WSU while nine Winona State turnovers led to just nine points for CSP.
One night after
Jordan Coblin delivered a career-best effort,
Carlos Barela followed with one of his own as he scored a career-high 23 points on 7-13 shooting, 4-6 from deep and 5-5 from the free throw line in the game. The junior transfer added six points, three assists and two steals in 37 minutes in the contest.
Jacob Shields was even more efficient as he missed just one of his six shots while scoring 12 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds.
Jordan Coblin fell just one rebound shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine boards as well.
Caleb Wagner led one of four Winona State players in double figures with 23 points as he reached 1,000 points in his career in the win.
It was an exciting opening 20 minutes featuring 11 lead changes as neither team led by more than seven points in the frame. CSP built an early 9-6 lead with a 5-0 run and they remained out front at 13-11 before an 8-0 run the other way put the Warriors ahead 19-13 nearly seven minutes into the contest.
Barela quickly got the Golden Bears back in it with eight points in a 9-4 run to cut it to one before back-to-back threes for Concordia put them in front 28-26 just past the midway point of the half. The Warriors tied in back up with a Martens layup, but the CSP run continued with seven points in a row to make it a 13-2 run overall as they took a 35-28 lead with 5:52 left on the clock.
That lead did not last long, however, as Winona State grabbed the next seven points to tie it right back up. That was the first of three ties in the final five minutes of the half before a Keefe three-pointer sealed a 42-41 lead at the break for the Golden Bears.
The Warriors regained the lead early in the second half with eight of 11 to make it 49-45, but the Golden Bears wasted little time regaining their edge as they responded with an 11-1 run to jump ahead 56-50 at the first media with 13:35 left on the clock.
The momentum continued to swing back and forth from there as WSU took the lead with seven straight points before extending it to six at 67-61 with a 17-5 run in total spanning seven minutes. Concordia answered with a 9-2 run of their own to regain the lead at 70-69 with under three minutes to play. A dunk on the other end put the Warriors in front once again before a Carlson layup gave CSP the lead right back at 72-71 at the 1:59 mark.
That proved to be the final lead for the Golden Bears, however, as a pair of Wagner free throws followed by a Taylor step-back three with 29 seconds to play gave Winona State the lead for good. Barela cut it back to two on two occasions down the stretch as he hit two free throws and a three in the final 20 seconds, but it was too little too late as WSU held on for the 79-77 victory.
Concordia returns home for the final time in 2019 next Wednesday as they take on Minnesota State in NSIC action. The Golden Bears and Mavericks will meet again just three days later in Mankato before heading to the holiday break.
