WAYNE, Neb. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-15, 6-13 NSIC) picked up a huge road win as they knocked off Wayne State (10-18, 7-12 NSIC) by a score of 93-89 in overtime at Rice Auditorium on Friday night.
 
The Golden Bears made it back-to-back wins following last Saturday's victory over UMC while also moving to 19-24 in the all-time series with the Wildcats. It was a back and forth contest from start to finish as neither team had a lead larger than two possessions at any point in the game.
 
Concordia lived up to their reputation as one of the more efficient offensive teams in the league as they connected on 55.2% (32-58) from the floor, 42.1% (8-19) from deep and 77.8% (21-27) from the free throw line in the win. CSP was especially good after the break as they hit 61.5% (16-26) in the second half along with an impressive 71.4% (5-7) from three-point range en route to scoring 47 points to force overtime. The Golden Bears took care of business at the charity stripe in overtime as they hit 10-12 (83.3%) to seal the win. CSP also tallied a 40-30 edge in points in the paint.
 
CSP took advantage of a career night from Lee Higgins in the win as the junior poured in a career-best 25 points in an extremely efficient performance. Higgins connected on 7-10 from the floor, 3-4 from beyond the arc and 8-10 from the free throw line. He also added eight boards, four assists and a block.
 
Higgins was one of five Golden Bears to reach double figures in scoring as Cody Carlson wasn't far behind with 18 points on 8-12 shooting. Jordan Coblin added 17 points and four boards while Max Keefe had 14 points and five rebounds and James Shields chipped in 11 points and four rebounds.
 
Al'Tavius Jackson and Nick Ferrarini matched each other for the team lead for WSC with 22 points while Jordan Janssen added a double-double with 16 points and 13 boards in the loss.
 
The opening half featured five ties and five lead changes as neither team built a lead larger than five before the break. Following the first media timeout, Keefe scored five straight points to turn an 11-8 deficit into a 13-11 lead. CSP remained out front at 15-13 with 11:16 to go in the half before an extended 10-3 run gave the Wildcats a 23-18 advantage. Concordia was back within a point after back-to-back buckets before Wayne State settled with a two-point edge at the half with a score of 34-32.
 
WSC doubled the advantage with the first bucket of the second half before CSP turned the tide with a quick 8-0 run to jump ahead 40-36. The Golden Bears maintained a lead of a basket or two over the next six and a half minutes until a 5-1 burst in favor of the Wildcats put them back in front at 55-54 with 11:01 to go in the game.
 
That lead lasted just 28 seconds as six straight points gave Concordia their largest lead of the night to that point at 60-55 just past the midway point of the half. The lead reached six a few minutes later at 65-59 before Wayne State trimmed it back to one with a three and a dunk. The Golden Bears held off the charge, however, and kept their advantage until the final minute of regulation.
 
With CSP holding a 77-72 lead with 1:50 to go in the game, Wayne State picked up an and-one on a layup followed by a steal and another layup to tie it. The Wildcats extended the run to 7-0 with another layup with 51 seconds left on the clock before Cody Carlson came through with a big shot to tie it back up at the 36 second mark. Concordia picked up a crucial defensive stop as they forced a shot clock violation, but were unable to capitalize on a last second three-point attempt as the game went to overtime with the score tied at 79-79.
 
Carlson opened the scoring with a quick bucket to start overtime, but WSC responded with the next five points to take control. The Wildcats still held a three point edge at 86-83 with under three minutes to play before a 6-0 run featuring four free throws and a layup gave CSP the lead for good. A Higgins layup with 45 seconds left put the Golden Bears in front before two free throws from him 21 seconds later extended it to three. A pair of free throws on the other end cut it back to one, but Concordia went a perfect 4-4 from the line in the final five seconds of play to seal the 93-89 win.
 
Concordia will head to Augustana tomorrow for their final regular season road game as the two teams square off with a 5:30 p.m. tip in Sioux Falls.