ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (8-17, 3-16 NSIC) saw Wayne State (18-7, 13-6 NSIC) put together a big late run to hand CSP a 94-74 loss on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears found themselves within two of the NSIC South-leading Wildcats at 63-61 with 9:05 left to play in the game before WSC finished on a 31-13 run to pull away. The loss drops CSP to 18-23 in the all-time series and 12-9 on their home court against Wayne State.
After shooting a solid 50.0% (18-36) in the first half, Wayne State was even better after the break as they connected on 63.3% (19-30) in the second half to finish the game at 56.1% (37-66). On the other side, CSP finished with a mark of 44.6% (25-56) for the game. The Wildcats took care of business down low with a 50-32 edge in points in the paint while also holding a 34-28 edge in rebounding and an 11-7 edge in second chance points on the night.
Concordia had three players reach double figures in scoring as
Bryndan Matthews led the way with 18 while McKay had 16 and Higgins had 13. Matthews hit an efficient 7-9 from the floor and snagged seven boards and four assists while McKay dished out six helpers. Matthews moved to within 39 points of the all-time scoring record with the performance. Higgins knocked down three three-pointers to go along with four rebounds and three assists.
It was a balanced attack for WSC with five different players chipping in at least 10 points, led by 21 from Nate Mohr off the bench. Nick Ferrarini followed with 17 points while Jordan Janssen and Trevin Joseph scored 16 apiece.
Wayne State put the Golden Bears in a deep hole from the opening tip as they scored the first 10 points of the contest while holding CSP off the board until the 16:22 mark. The lead reached 11 at 15-4 and remained at seven or above until the closing minutes of the half. With the margin at eight at 26-18 nearing the midway point of the period, the Wildcats strung together eight of the next nine points to give them their largest lead of the half at 34-19 with 9:02 to go. The lead remained comfortably in double figures at 38-25, but Concordia completely turned the momentum from there with a huge 14-2 run to pull within one with 1:47 left in the half. WSC stemmed the tide with a late bucket to take a 42-39 lead into the locker room.
The Wildcats got off to a strong start again in the second half with seven of the first nine to push it back to eight and maintained that lead at 51-43 before CSP started to chip away again. A 10-4 run in favor of the Golden Bears got CSP back to within a pair at 55-53 before cutting it to one at 58-57. Concordia remained within striking distance over the next several minutes as the margin was still one possession with 9:05 to play at 63-61 before Wayne State put it out of reach. It was a 14-0 burst for the Wildcats that proved to be the decisive run as it turned a slim two point edge into a 77-61 lead with just over five minutes left on the clock. The lead remained at 14 or more for the rest of the night as the Wildcats cruised to a 94-74 win.
Concordia returns to Gangelhoff Center for the final time this season tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. as they take on Augustana on Senior Night.
