CROOKSTON, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (8-16, 3-15 NSIC) was unable to keep pace with Minnesota Crookston (15-12, 8-10 NSIC) on the road on Saturday night as the Golden Bears fell to the Golden Eagles 81-61.
Concordia fell to 23-6 all-time against Minnesota Crookston and 11-4 on the road in the series as UMC picked up just their second win over CSP in the past 12 meetings.
Turnovers and rebounding cost the Golden Bears as UMC won the turnover battle 17-8 and outscored CSP 19-3 in second chance points while holding a 13-9 edge in offensive rebounds. Concordia, however, managed a 16-0 advantage in fast break points as well as a 34-22 advantage in points in the paint in the loss.
Bryndan Matthews was the top scorer on the night as he led all players with 19 points on 8-14 shooting in the game. Matthews filled the stat sheet with five assists, four steals and four rebounds as well.
Cody Carlson and
Elliot Kane also reached double figures with 10 points apiece as Carlson added seven boards and Kane chipped in four.
The Golden Eagles featured a balanced offense with five players in double figures, led by 17 from Javier Nicolau. Malcolm Cohen and Brian Sitzmann each contributed 15 points apiece as well in the win.
The two teams jostled for the lead in the opening few minutes with four lead changes and a pair of ties over the first five minutes before UMC started to take control. With Concordia holding an 8-7 lead, Minnesota Crookston scored the next eight points to take the lead for good. The Golden Bears had the margin back down to four at 17-13 midway through the half, but the Golden Eagles pushed their lead to double figures with 11 of the next 13 to make it 28-15. The lead grew to as many at 15 in the opening 20 minutes and sat at 14 before CSP cut it in half at 38-31 with two minutes left in the half with seven points in a row. Back-to-back threes for UMC extended the lead back to 13 at 44-31 at the break.
Minnesota Crookston put the game out of reach in the first few minutes of the second half as a 9-2 run ballooned their lead all the way out to 20 at 53-33. Concordia chipped away and got back within 14 at 60-44, but that was as close as they would get as the next 12 points in a row went in favor of the Golden Eagles. The UMC lead peaked at 72-44 before they handed the Golden Bears an 81-61 loss.
The Golden Bears return home for the final time in the 2018-19 season next weekend with Wayne State and Augustana coming to town.
