ST PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (5-7, 3-5 NSIC) completed the sweep of the weekend as they grabbed a 71-68 win over Minot State (6-8, 0-8 NSIC) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
For the second time in as many days, the Golden Bears put together a big second half to come out on top. CSP connected on an efficient 64.3% (18-28) from the floor and 60.0% (6-10) from beyond the arc in the second half to outscore the Beavers 45-36 after the break. Concordia finished the game at 50.0% (26-52), making it five times in seven games that the team has hit 50.0% or better from the floor. The win was CSP's second in seven all-time meetings with Minot State and their first since 2014.
Concordia was able to overcome deficits of 21-3 in points off of turnovers and 16-9 in second chance points as they utilized a 37-31 edge on the glass as well as a 16-5 edge in fast break points and an 8-5 edge in threes made.
Lee Higgins continued to produce at a high level with his second consecutive 20+ point effort while
Jordan Coblin added a big night of his own. Higgins followed up an incredibly efficient performance in which he hit 8-10 from the floor by hitting 9-11 and 3-4 from deep to finish with 21 points, six boards and a pair of steals. Coblin led all players in the game with 26 points on 8-14 from the floor and 4-8 from three-point range while also adding eight rebounds and four assists.
While Higgins and Coblin combined for 47 of the team's 71 points on the night, Concordia had all eight players score in the game, including nine points from
Carlos Barela and five points and five boards from
Perion Little off the bench.
Max Cody paced the Beavers with 23 points, five rebounds and four assists while Kyle Beisch added 19 points, five boards and four assists in the loss.
The Marauders jumped out to an early 7-3 lead before back-to-back buckets for Higgins gave CSP an 8-7 lead of their own. Minot State answered with seven in a row and 12 of 14 to extend the lead to nine just past the midway point of the half before pushing it to double figures at 23-13 at the 5:38 mark. Still down 10 at 30-20 with just under two minutes remaining in the half, Concordia finished the half strong as they put together a 6-2 run to cut it to 32-26 heading to the break.
Things were looking dire for the Golden Bears early in the second half as Minot State pushed it back to double digits at 41-31 with 16:32 to play, but Concordia once again showed their resilience as they turned the tide in their favor from there.
Concordia scored three straight baskets to make it a four point game before trimming it down to two at 45-43 at the 13:58 mark. The Beavers added some breathing room with a 5-0 run for Kody Dwyer, but that was quickly erased as Coblin and Little sparked a 10-2 run to put CSP in front 53-52 with 8:49 left on the clock. A pair of MiSU free throws gave them the lead back one last time before a 12-5 run spanning three and a half minutes gave the Golden Bears their largest lead of the night at 65-59.
With CSP still holding a six point lead a minute later at 67-61 with 3:18 to go in the game, it was Minot State's turn to make a run as they trimmed it all the way down to two at 69-67 with 41 seconds to go and forced a stop to regain possession with a chance to tie or take the lead with 11 seconds left. Beisch drove to the hoop with time winding down and drew a foul with 3.8 seconds remaining on the clock, but missed the second of two free throws to keep CSP in front 69-68. Little calmly knocked down a pair of free throws with 0.4 seconds left before Max Cody saw a desperation heave from the opposite three-point line fall just short as Concordia held on for the 71-68 win.
The Golden Bears will look to remain hot as they hit the road over the next two weekends. CSP will travel to Southwest Minnesota State and Sioux Falls next weekend before heading north to St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth the following weekend.
