ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (6-12, 4-10 NSIC) hits the road again this weekend as they travel to Northern State (15-5, 11-3 NSIC) on Friday and MSU Moorhead (12-8, 8-6 NSIC) on Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears dropped a pair of contests on their home court as they fell to Augustana on Friday before seeing a last-second attempt to tie the game fall short in a loss to Wayne State on Saturday.

Concordia's defense was able to limit their opponents to just 39.8% from the floor and 34.7% from beyond the arc on the weekend, but they were unable to capitalize on the other end as they connected on 36.8% offensively with a 32.6% mark from deep. Rebounding and turnovers also played a role on the contests as CSP saw their opponents hold a 93-72 advantage on the glass, including a 30-16 advantage on the offensive glass, to go along with a 33-26 edge in turnovers forced.
 
Senior Max Keefe took advantage of his opportunities playing in front of numerous friends and family as he led the team with 12.5 points and 6.5 boards on 72.7% (8-11) from the floor and 60.0% (3-5) from beyond the arc in 23.0 minutes off the bench. Lee Higgins added 12.0 points on 66.7% (10-15) shooting while Cody Carlson pulled down 7.0 rebounds over the two games.

NSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears hold a 7-31 all-time series record against the Wolves, with NSU grabbing five wins in a row. Concordia has found wins hard to come by in Aberdeen as they have claimed just one win in 21 trips to Northern State. CSP's lone road win in the series came back on Jan. 31, 2015 as the Golden Bears claimed a 66-65 overtime win.

LAST MEETING VS NSU
In the opening round of last season's NSIC Tournament, Concordia, the eighth seed in the NSIC South, saw their season come to a close with an 88-65 loss at Northern State, the top seed in the NSIC North.

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.

ABOUT THE WOLVES
Perenially a power in the Northern Sun, Northern State once again find themselves at the top as they sit in a three-way tie for the top record in league play at 11-3. The Wolves have been playing some of their best basketball of the season as of late with 11 wins in 12 and six in a row before falling to UMD last Saturday.

Last weekend at home, NSU extended their streak to six consecutive wins before falling into a tie at the top of the NSIC North with Minnesota Duluth as the Bulldogs handed them an 87-79 loss on Saturday. The Wolves found themselves down seven at the break and fought back midway through the second half, but UMD held off the charge to claim a crucial victory.

Sophomore big man Parker Fox has established himself as one of the top players in the league as he paces the squad with 21.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game while hitting 60.9% from the floor. Mason Stark adds 15.1 points per night while Gabe King has put up 10.7 ponts and 4.4 boards.

MSUM SERIES HISTORY
This weekend's matchup will be Concordia's 34th meeting with MSU Moorhead, where the Bears own a 13-20 overall record in the series. CSP has won three of their last six matchups against the Dragons, including two of the last three. When playing in Moorhead, the Golden Bears have gone 4-13 while tallying a record of 9-7 at home.

LAST MEETING VS MSUM
Back on Feb. 2 of last season, the Golden Bears was unable to keep pace in a high scoring contest with MSU Moorhead as they fell 102-90 at Gangelhoff Center.

For the Golden Bears, Bryndan Matthews and Isaiah McKay combined to score 49 of the team's 90 points to lead the way. Matthews reached 20+ points for the second night in a row with 26 points on 11-16 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. McKay finished with 23 points on 8-18 from the floor and 6-6 from the free throw line. Hayden Baughman hit four threes for the second straight game to join Matthews and McKay in double figures as he finished with 14 points.
 
The Golden Bears finished the night at 50.8% (33-65) from the floor while MSUM hit 57.8% (37-64). CSP also held a 40-36 edge in points in the paint and a 10-7 edge in second chance points.

Six different Dragons scored in double figures on the night, led by 26 points off the bench from Bryce Irsfeld. Irsfeld knocked down 6-7 from beyond the arc as he helped the team to 46 bench points and a 12-26 mark from deep. Travaun Coad added 19 points while Gavin Baumgartner and Addison Park chipped in 13 points apiece.

ABOUT THE DRAGONS
With eight games left in the regular season, the Dragons sit in third in the NSIC North with an 8-6 record in league action with a 12-8 record overall. MSU Moorhead has been fairly consistent throughout the season as they have not lost three games in a row at any point this season while tallying five straight wins in non-conference play. The past few weeks, MSUM has claimed five wins in their last seven games.

Last weekend, the Dragons bounced back from a 77-70 loss to Minnesota Duluth with an 80-78 win over St. Cloud State on Saturday. In the win over SCSU, a tip-in by junior forward Kaedrick Williams in the final seconds gave MSUM the lead for good. The Huskies had an opportunity to answer back with less than two seconds on the clock, but a steal by senior guard Johnny Beeninga sealed the game.

On the season, Gavin Baumgartner has led the way for the Dragons with 16.3 points and 5.2 boards while Bryce Irsfeld has chipped in 12.9 points per game. Following that duo, it's been a balanced attack with six players averaging between 6.6 and 8.5 points per game.

NSIC LEADERS
So far in the conference season, Concordia has been an efficient offensive squad as they rank fourth the league in three-point percentage (40.1%) and rank sixth in field goal percentage (46.6%). The Golden Bears also rank near the top in a few other offensive categories, ranking seventh in threes made (8.6) and eighth in assists (13.5).
 
Individually, Jordan Coblin ranks in the top-20 of the league in eight different categories and in the top-10 in a pair of those categories. His 17.4 points per game rank 12th while his 5.0 assists per game rank second. He also sits in ninth in minutes (33.6), 15th in field goal percentage (47.1%), 18th in threes made (1.9) and 14th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3).
 
Cody Carlson has been effective on the glass as he ranks 13th in rebounding (6.4), putting him in the top-20 in both offensive and defensive rebounding. Carlos Barela ranks 17th in steals (1.2) while Jacob Shields ranks 17th in blocks (0.7).