ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-20), the eighth seed in the NSIC South, fell to Northern State (23-7), the top seed in the NSIC North, by a score of 88-65 in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on Wednesday night.
For the second year in a row, the Golden Bears' season came to a close at Wachs Arena as the Wolves knocked off CSP in the first round of the conference tournament for the second time in as many years. The loss drops Concordia to 1-20 all-time in Aberdeen and 7-31 all-time against Northern State.
Efficiency on the offensive end played a major role in the outcome as the Wolves hit a solid 33-60 (55.0%) from the floor and 12-24 (50.0%) from beyond the arc while the Golden Bears were held to 27-67 (40.3%) shooting and 7-18 (38.9%) from deep. CSP did win the turnover battle, however, as they turned it over just seven times while forcing 12.
Bryndan Matthews finished off an incredible season by leading all players in scoring with 18 points on 7-15 shooting on the night while he also pulled down six boards. With his 18 points, Matthews set the single-season scoring record at Concordia with 546 points, surpassing Brian Jamros' mark of 529 points set back in 2003-04. The Eagan native also extended his lead as the program's all-time leading scorer as he finished his career with 1,813 points. In addition, he brought his career marks to 676 field goals made, 110 games started and 3,920 minutes played, all school records.
Matthews was not the only senior to reach double figures in scoring in his final game as
Elliot Kane and
Evan Wesenberg also reached the mark. Kane connected on 5-10 shooting and 3-4 from three-point range to finish with 13 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists while Wesenberg flirted with a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds in 20 minutes of action.
Lee Higgins added 10 points, five assists and a pair of steals in the loss.
Like the Golden Bears, the Wolves had four players score 10+ points on the night while two more finished with eight in a balanced effort. Bo Fries and Gabe King tied for the team lead with 15 points apiece while Justin Decker followed close behind with 14. Parker Fox added 10 points off the bench in the win.
After the Golden Bears grabbed an early 6-5 lead, the Wolves took control with 16 of the next 18 points to build a double-digit advantage at 21-8 with 12:56 to go in the first half. CSP chipped away to cut it to eight following a 9-4 run, but a huge 16-2 run the other way put Northern State comfortable back out front at 41-19 with 4:35 to go before the break. Concordia finished the half strong as they closed the margin to 14 at 46-32 heading to the locker room.
That would be all the closer the Golden Bears would get as 16 of the first 20 points out of the break went in favor of the Wolves to put the game out of reach. Northern State maintained a lead of 20 or above the rest of the half as they went on to claim the 88-65 victory to advance to the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals in Sioux Falls.
