ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (6-11, 4-9 NSIC) fell to Augustana (12-7, 7-6 NSIC) by a score of 81-54 on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
It was quiet night offensively for both squads as neither team reached the 40% mark from the floor as the Golden Bears held Augie to 39.7% (27-68) from the floor and 36.4% (8-22) from three-point range while CSP hit 30.5% (18-59) on the offensive end and 29.2% (7-24) from deep.
The Vikings controlled play in most other categories, however, as they held a 26-11 edge in points off of turnovers, a 38-22 edge in points in the paint, a 18-9 edge in fast break points and a 52-40 edge in rebounding.
Concordia got a pair of encouraging performances off the bench as
Max Keefe nearly put up a double-double with 13 points, nine boards and three steals as he connected on 4-7 shooting and 4-4 from the line while
Seth Coatta was a perfect 3-3 from the floor and 2-2 from deep to finish with eight points, four rebounds and three steals in his debut.
Keefe was not the only Golden Bear to score in double figures as
Lee Higgins had 12 points on 5-6 shooting and 2-2 from beyond the arc while
Jordan Coblin finished with six points, five assists and four rebounds.
Dylan LeBrun led all scorers with 16 points for the Vikings while Tyler Riemersma added nine points, 13 boards, two assists and two steals in the win.
Augustana poured it on from the start as they scored the first five points of the game before extending it out to 11 at 16-5 at the 13:31 mark. A Coatta three had it back down to eight before another 7-0 run for the Vikings extended it to 15. The Golden Bears showed some resilience with an extended 11-2 run throughout the middle portions of the half to trim it all the way back down to six at 25-19 with 5:21 left, but an 8-0 burst the other way had it back to double figures. The lead remained beyond 10 the rest of the half as Augie took a 40-28 lead into the half.
Higgins drained a three to open the second half to cut it back to nine, but it was all Vikings from there as the next 11 points in a row went in favor of Augustana. The lead continued to grow as it reached as many as 31 at 73-42 before the Vikings cruised to an 81-54 victory on the night.
The Golden Bears will look to get back in the win column tomorrow night as Wayne State comes to town for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.
