ST PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-17), the seventh seed in the NSIC South, will travel to Minnesota Duluth (20-8), the second seed in the NSIC North, in the first round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Men's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, the Golden Bears bounced back from a 74-60 loss to Winona State on Friday with an impressive 93-61 win in the regular season finale against Upper Iowa on Saturday.

In the win, Concordia dominated the action on both ends of the court as they connected on an impressive 59.3% (32-54) from the floor while holding Upper Iowa to just 33.8% (23-68) for the game. The gap was even larger from beyond the arc as CSP hit 58.3% (14-24) from three-point range while UIU hit just 16.7% (5-30). The Golden Bears set the tone in the opening half as they hit a scintillating 66.7% (18-27) of their shots compared to 27.8% (10-36) for their opponents.
 
Concordia's starting five played a big role in the win as all five reached double figures while combining for 84 of the team's 93 points in the win with all five shooting better than 50% from the floor.
 
Jordan Coblin put up a huge stat line as he flirted with a triple-double, putting up 21 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. He hit 6-11 from the floor, 3-5 from deep and 6-7 from the free throw line on the night. Carlos Barela added a similarly full line with 19 points on 5-9 shooting and 4-6 from deep with a career-best 13 boards to go along with four assists.
 
Cody Carlson contributed an extremely efficient performance as he hit seven of his nine shots and four of his five threes to finish with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists while Lee Higgins poured in 16 points and three boards. Max Keefe closed out his Gangelhoff Center career in style on Senior Day as he reached double figures for the sixth consecutive game and ninth time in the last 10 with 10 points on 4-7 shooting.

UMD SERIES HISTORY
Heading into Wednesday's matchup, the Golden Bears hold a record of 13-16 against the Bulldogs. The momentum has been heavily shifted in CSP's favor in the past few years as they have won 13 of the last 19 and and nine of the last 13 in the series. Concordia has been nearly even both at home and on the road in the series as they have gone 7-7 on their home court and 6-9 in Duluth.

LAST MEETING VS UMD
Just over a month ago back on Jan. 18, the Golden Bears took part in yet another high-scoring contest as they fell at Minnesota Duluth by a score of 101-92.

The Golden Bears put up one of their best offensive performances of the season as they knocked down 57.6% (34-59) from the field, just shy of their season-best mark of 59.6%. Concordia also connected on 12 threes as they hit 50.0% of their 24 attempts. CSP was also nearly perfect at the free throw line as they hit 92.3% (12-13). UMD, on the other hand, hit 53.6% (30-56) from the field, 56.0% (14-25) from deep and 87.1% (27-31) from the free throw line in the win.
 
In addition to their shooting advantage from the field, Concordia also had a 40-28 edge in points in the paint as well as a 20-13 edge in bench points. UMD, meanwhile, had a 30-24 edge on the glass and a 10-2 advantage in second chance points.
 
Jordan Coblin stayed hot as he finished with 20+ points for the fourth time in five games. The Boca Raton native led the squad with 27 points on 9-14 shooting, 6-8 from beyond the arc and 3-4 from the free throw line as he flirted with a triple-double with seven assists, seven rebounds and two steals.
 
Coblin was just one of six Concordia players to reach double figures in scoring as Max Keefe, Cody Carlson, Lee Higgins, Jacob Shields and Perion Little also hit the mark. Keefe and Carlson each finished with 12 points as Keefe added five assists and four boards while Carlson hit 5-9 from the floor. Higgins and Shields each chipped in 11 points while Little hit 3-4 from the floor to finish with 10 points.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Finishing in the NSIC North, UMD enters the postseason with an impressive 20-8 mark overall and a 15-7 record in conference play. After spending much of the season jostling for the top spot with Northern State, the Bulldogs cooled down a bit down the stretch as they finished with a 4-4 record over the final four weekends of the regular season.

Last weekend, the Bulldogs picked up a 90-84 overtime victory at Minnesota Crookston on Friday before falling to Bemidji State 83-76 on Saturday. Senior Brandon Myer put up massive stats to earn NSIC North Player of the Week honors, averaging an incredible 42.0 points and 15.0 rebounds over the two contests. In addition to the conference honors, Myer also became Minnesota Duluth's all-time leading scorer on Saturday night.

Myer, who ranks second in the NSIC in scoring with 23.5 points per game and third with 9.6 rebounds per game, headlines a strong starting five that carries much of the load for the Bulldogs. Redshirt freshman Drew Blair has burst onto the scene with 16.3 points and 4.4 boards in his first season of action while seniors Alex Illikainen and Logan Rohrscheib have also averaged double figures with 13.5 and 10.5 points per game, respectively. Trevor Entwisle has been the team's main distributor with a team-best 4.4 assists per game.

NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears carry a 4-16 all-time record in the conference tournament including a 4-12 mark in opening round competition. Concordia is also 2-12 in tournament road games, with their two wins coming in 2004-05 at Wayne State (93-84) and 2016-17 at MSU Moorhead (86-78). The Golden Bears have yet to capture multiple wins in a conference tournament.

LAST YEAR IN THE TOURNAMENT
In the opening round of last year's tournament, CSP, the eighth seed in the NSIC South, fell to Northern State, the top seed in the NSIC North, by a score of 88-65 in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament.

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.

NSIC LEADERS
Throughout the conference season, Concordia was one of the most efficient offensive squads in the league as they rank second in the NSIC in field goal percentage (47.9%) and third in three-point percentage (40.3%). The Golden Bears also rank near the top in a few other offensive categories, ranking second in assists (14.4) and seventh in threes made (8.8).
 
Individually, Jordan Coblin ranks in the top-20 of the league in six different categories. His 16.3 points per game rank 13th while his 4.9 assists per game rank third. He also sits in 12th in minutes (33.1), 16th in field goal percentage (45.6%), 13th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2) and 16th in free throw percentage (74.3%).
 
Cody Carlson also registers in the top-20 in three categories as his 51.9% shooting percentage sits in seventh, his 4.4 defensive rebounds per game rank 15 and his 5.8 total rebounds per game rank 18th. Jacob Shields also ranks 13th in blocks per game at 0.9.