MARSHALL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul (6-7, 4-5 NSIC) secured its third straight win overall and third straight over Southwest Minnesota State (5-10, 2-7 NSIC) with a 79-70 road win on Friday night at R/A Facility.
 
Concordia remains unbeaten in three games since the calendar turned to 2020 and won for just the fourth time in Marshall in 22 trips to SMSU, improving to 13-30 in the all-time series against the Mustangs.
 
Concordia used an 11-0 run late in the first half to claim a lead it wouldn't relinquish, and then a 10-0 run just past the midway point of the second half after SMSU had cut a 14-point lead to just two.
 
The Golden Bears got the job done from inside and from beyond the arc, outscoring the Mustangs 40-22 in the paint and hitting 53.3 percent (8-15) from the arc while holding SMSU to 39.1 percent (9-23) three-point shooting on its home nets.
 
Overall, CSP shot 59.6 percent (31-52) from the field compared to SMSU's 44.3 percent (27-61). Concordia held the Mustangs to 38.9 percent (14-36) second half shooting, as well.
 
Concordia shot a blistering 70.8 percent (17-24) from the floor in the first half including 85.7 percent (6-7) first half three-point shooting. Half of those three-pointers, one each from freshman George Scharlau and juniors Carlos Barela and Jordan Coblin sparked the 11-0 run which sent CSP into the locker room on a 13-2 spurt for a 42-33 lead at the break.
 
Coblin continued his strong play into the second half with the first five points, while a layup by Jacob Shields extended Concordia's lead to 14, 51-37 with 17:44 remaining. CSP turned a 31-29 deficit with 4:24 to play in the first half into a 14-point lead with a 22-8 stretch of basketball.
 
Coblin had 10 of his game-high 22 points during the run, finishing the night 8-13 from the field and 3-4 from the arc, adding seven rebounds and five assists.
 
Shields, meanwhile, was efficient off the bench, making 7-of-9 from the floor, both of his three-pointers and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds.
 
SMSU cut it to two, 56-54 with just over 11 minutes to play after a pair of Nick Dufault three-pointers sparked an 8-0 run that opened a larger 17-5 stretch for the Mustangs that spanned five and a half minutes.
 
During the stretch, SMSU forced CSP to shoot 2-of-7 from the field to SMSU's 6-of-12. Dufault had eight and Kenny Byers had seven during the Mustangs run to get back into the game.
 
Byers led SMSU with 21 points but needed 21 shots to get there (9-21) and was 2-of-7 from the free throw line, but he added eight assists, six rebounds and four steals. Dufault finished with 15 points off the bench, sinking three from the arc (3-6).
 
After SMSU had the game back within reach nearing the midway point of the second half, Concordia turned it back on. A three-pointer by Coblin, a three-point play by Carlson and another Carlson finish at the rim put Concordia on a 10-0 run for its second 14-point lead of the half, 70-56 with just over seven minutes to play.
 
Carlson finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, adding seven rebounds. Lee Higgins continued his efficient shooting, making 4-of-5 from the floor, hitting his only three-point attempt, adding five assists and four rebounds.
 
CSP held at least a seven point lead the rest of the way to secure its first road win of 2019-20. The Golden Bears will look for back-to-back road wins for the first time since winning their last three road games of 2015-16 as part of a 7-1 finish to the regular season that year.