ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-15, 5-13 NSIC) hits the road for the final time in the regular season this weekend as they travel to Wayne State (10-17, 7-11 NSIC) on Friday and Augustana (14-10, 9-9 NSIC) on Saturday in NSIC action.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears picked up a weekend split as they bounced back from an 84-76 loss to Bemidji State with a 92-81 win against Minnesota Crookston.

With the score tied 31-31 at the break on Saturday, the Golden Bears caught absolute fire in the second half as they made 19 of their 26 shots (73.1%), four of the their seven threes (57.1%) and 19 of their 21 free throws (90.5%) to finish with a season-best 61 points. CSP's second half total was their largest in a half since scoring 68 points in the first half against Judson on Dec. 18, 2009 in a 110-78 victory.
 
Max Keefe continued to produce at a high level as he reached double figures for the sixth time in seven games, scoring a career-best 23 points to go along with a career-best 10 boards for his first double-double. Keefe did it on an efficient 7-10 shooting, 4-5 from three-point range and 5-6 from the free throw line in nearly 35 minutes of action.

WSC SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Friday night in the all-time series between Concordia and Wayne State, WSC holds a slight edge as they have claimed 24 wins while CSP has picked up 18 in the 42 previous meetings. Since a stretch from 2006-2011 that saw Concordia win nine of 10 meetings, the Wildcats have turned the momentum in their favor with 14 wins in the last 18 and seven in a row. Concordia has found much more success on their home court as they have gone 12-10 in St. Paul and 6-14 in Wayne in the series.

LAST MEETING VS WSC
Just a few weeks ago on Jan. 25, CSP fell just short in a 66-63 loss at Gangelhoff Center. Despite trailing by five points with 38 seconds to play, Concordia-St. Paul had a chance to tie in the game's closing seconds, but Wayne State blocked CSP's three-pointer with two seconds to play to hold off the Golden Bears.

The closely contested game featured 20 lead changes and six ties, and neither team led by more than five points throughout.
 
Junior Jacob Shields led four Golden Bears in double-figures with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting, adding six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Three others: Coblin, Max Keefe and Lee Higgins each scored 12 points. Keefe, in front of at least 20 of his family members, scored his 12 points with maximum efficiency, needing just four shots (4-4), including a pair of three-pointers and sinking both of his free throws. He added four rebounds and a pair of blocks off the bench.

Six of Concordia's seven players who competed in this evening's game scored at least six points, with Cody Carlson and Carlos Barela each scoring six points and grabbing seven rebounds. Barela added five assists, as well.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS
The Wildcats have been the epitome of a streaky team in the 2019-20 season as they have put together two winning streaks of at least three games and three losing streaks of at least three games. WSC had been riding a four-game winning streak until dropping each of their last two games.

Last weekend proved to be a tough road trip for the Wildcats as they fell at St. Cloud State 90-68 on Friday before falling to Minnesota Duluth 91-70 on Saturday. WSC ran into a pair of hot shooting opponents as both teams shot at least 55.0% from the floor while scoring 90 points or more in the contests.

The Wildcats have relied heavily in the quartet of Jordan Janssen, Nick Ferrarini, Nate Mohr and Al'Tavius Jackson as all four have started all 27 games while averaging 10.1 points or more in 30 minutes per game or more. Leading the way is Janssen, who nearly averaging a double-double with 17.3 points and 9.6 boards to go along with a team-best 3.7 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.3 steals per game on the year.

AUGIE SERIES HISTORY
On Saturday, the Golden Bears meet the Vikings for the 29th time in the all-time series as CSP holds a record of 5-23 in the previous 28 meetings. The Vikings have dominated the series in the recent past with 16 straight wins over Concordia dating back to CSP's 81-77 win in St. Paul on Jan. 3, 2012. In Concordia's 12 trips to Augie, the Golden Bears have tallied a 1-11 record.

LAST MEETING VS AUGIE
Back on Jan. 24, the Golden Bears fell to Augustana by a score of 81-54 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.

ABOUT THE VIKINGS
After finishing the regular season strong and claiming a share of the NSIC South regular season title last season, the Vikings looked to pick up where they left off with 11 wins in their first 13 games and six of their first seven in NSIC play. That momentum has been slowed considerably since the turn of the year as Augie has dropped eight of the past 11 to fall to 9-9 in league play.

Last weekend on the road, Minnesota Duluth responded following a 73-67 loss at UMD on Friday with a decisive 81-58 win over St. Cloud State. Augie knocked down an efficient 59.3% from the field in the win, led by 26 points from Dylan LeBrun.

LeBrun is one of four Augie players to average double figures on the season as Matt Cartwright, Matt Todd and Tyler Riemersma all average over 13.0 points per game. Riemersma has averaged a double-double with 13.3 points and 10.4 boards on the year. Todd leads the team with 2.7 assists per game and 56 threes made on the season.

NSIC LEADERS
Throughout the conference season, Concordia has been an efficient offensive squad as they rank fourth the league in three-point percentage (39.7%), fifth in field goal percentage (46.8%) and fifth in free throw percentage (73.8%). The Golden Bears also rank near the top in a few other offensive categories, ranking second in assists (14.1) and eighth in threes made (8.7).
 
Individually, Jordan Coblin ranks in the top-20 of the league in seven different categories. His 16.7 points per game rank 12th while his 4.9 assists per game rank second. He also sits in 14th in minutes (32.8), 17th in field goal percentage (46.3%), 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.3) and 12th in steals (1.2).
 
Cody Carlson has been effective on the glass as he ranks 17th in rebounding (5.9) and 15th in defensive rebounding (4.4). Carlos Barela ranks 20th in steals (1.0) while Jacob Shields ranks 18th in blocks (0.7).