MANKATO, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-7, 1-5 NSIC) was unable to keep pace with Minnesota State (5-7, 3-3 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon as the Golden Bears fell 85-68 at Taylor Center.
 
For the second time in four days, the Mavericks jumped out to an early lead and the Golden Bears were unable to recover as CSP dropped to 6-28 in the all-time series with MSU winning their 16^th of the last 17 meetings between the two schools.
 
Concordia held the edge down low in the contest as they had a 34-32 advantage in points in the paint, a 10-7 advantage in offensive rebounds and a 12-8 advantage in second chance points, but they were unable to capitalize on that as efficiency proved to be the determining factor in the game.
 
The Mavericks connected at a high clip in the game as they hit 50.8% (30-59) from the floor, 46.4% (13-28) from three-point range and 80.0% (12-15) from the free throw line while CSP finished at 44.3% (27-61), 29.2% (7-24) and 58.3% (7-12), respectively.
 
One game after stepping into the starting lineup, Lee Higgins delivered his best performance of the season with 14 points on 5-11 shooting to go along with 11 boards and five assists for his first double-double of the year. He was matched by Cody Carlson on the offensive end as Carlson added 14 points of his own on 6-11 from the floor to go along with four boards.
 
Jacob Shields gave the Golden Bears a spark off the bench with 13 points on 6-10 shooting while George Scharlau and Carlos Barela added eight points apiece. Scharlau tacked on seven rebounds while Barela added four boards and four steals in the loss.
 
Ryland Holt led all players in scoring for the second consecutive game as he finished with 24 points on 9-14 shooting while Landon Wolfe hit 5-6 from deep to contribute 19 points in the win for the Mavericks.
 
The Mavericks put the Golden Bears in an early hole as an early 9-0 run turned a 2-2 tie into an 11-2 lead for MSU. That lead reached double figures at the 12:41 mark at 15-5 before back-to-back buckets stemmed the tide for Concordia. CSP continued to chip away as they had the deficit down to four at 28-24 and they remained within five at 35-30 with 2:37 to go before the break, but Minnesota State held them off the board the rest of the way as an 8-0 run gave the Mavericks a 43-30 lead at the half.
 
An early three to open the second half ballooned the lead out to 16 for MSU, but an 8-2 run the other way shrunk the margin back down to 10. The momentum continued to swing from there as a 7-0 run for Minnesota State gave them their largest lead of the contest to that point at 57-40 before another CSP run, this time six straight points on three layups, cut it back to 11. Concordia eventually pulled within single digits just past the midway point of the half at 65-57 following a 7-1 run, but that would be all the closer they would get.
 
Minnesota State responded with a crucial 8-0 run to double the lead at 73-57 before continuing to add to it down the stretch. The lead grew to as many as 19 in the final two minutes before the Mavericks settled with a 85-68 final score.
 
The Golden Bears return to action after the New Year as they host UMary and Minot State on Jan. 3-4.