ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (6-9, 4-7 NSIC) fell just short of erasing a double-digit halftime deficit as they dropped Friday night's contest at St. Cloud State (10-7, 7-4 NSIC) by a score of 100-90.
For the second year in a row, the two teams eclipsed 190 points as SCSU followed up CSP's 107-91 win in St. Paul nearly a year ago to the day with a 100-90 win on their home court. The Golden Bears closed the deficit to just two points midway through the second half, but they were unable to complete the comeback as they dropped to 7-21 in the all-time series, including a 2-13 mark in St. Cloud.
The Golden Bears continued to be efficient on the offensive end as they cleared 50.0% shooting for the seventh time in 11 conference games, finishing at 51.6% (32-62) overall after hitting 57.1% (16-28) in the first half. CSP was especially effective from deep before the break as they knocked down 7-12 (58.3%) in the opening half before finishing the game at 42.9% (9-21) from three-point range in the game. SCSU, meanwhile, hit 46.0% (29-63) on the night.
Turnovers and transition play proved to be the difference-makers in the game as the Huskies used an 18-10 edge in turnovers forced into a 27-12 edge in points off turnovers. St. Cloud State also managed 29 fastbreak points while Concordia had 11. The Golden Bears did manage a 27-7 advantage in bench scoring as well as a 42-30 edge in points in the paint in the loss.
Jordan Coblin was the focal point of the CSP offense on the night as he hit 12-17 from the floor and 2-4 from beyond the arc to finish with 28 points, six assists and four boards while playing all 40 minutes. His 28 points were three shy of his career best.
Coblin was one of four CSP players in double figures as
Cody Carlson and
Perion Little each had 14 points while
Carlos Barela had 11. Carlson added 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the year while Little hit 4-7 shooting and Barela added four boards.
Ilya Tyrtyshnik paced St. Cloud State with 26 points on 6-10 from three-point range while Anthony Roberts added 20 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
It was the Huskies that struck first as they used a pair of Tyrtyshnik threes to jump out to an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes. CSP clawed their way back to within a point at 15-14 at the 13:41 mark following a 7-2 run, but a 14-0 run the other way ballooned the lead all the way out to 15 at 29-14 for the Huskies.
With the lead still at 15 at 31-16, Concordia once again embarked on a run to shrink the gap as they trimmed it to 33-29 with a 13-2 burst. That would be all the closer they would get in the half, however, as St. Cloud State pushed it back to double digits with six straight points before eventually growing it to 12 in the final minute of the half. Two late free throws for Coblin cut it back to 10 at 51-41 heading to the break.
The Golden Bears opened the second half strong as they picked up back-to-back buckets as a part of a 9-2 run to pull within a possession at 53-50 less than two minutes into the half. A few possessions later, the Huskies regained a bit of a cushion as they used an 8-3 run to make it 63-55 before pushing it to nine at 69-60 at the 11:47 mark.
Concordia continued to show their resilience as nine of the next 11 points went in their favor to cut it to 71-69 just past the midway point of the half, but SCSU was back on the offensive with a 9-1 run over the next two and a half minutes to push it back to 10 at 80-70. The Golden Bears trimmed it back to six on several occasions, including as late as 90-84 with 1:43 left on the clock, but St. Cloud State took care of business at the free throw line as they sealed a 100-90 victory.
Concordia will look to get back into the win column tomorrow night as they take on Minnesota Duluth at 5:30 p.m. The Golden Bears will return home next weekend as they play host to Augustana and Wayne State.
