DULUTH, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-18), the seventh seed in the NSIC South, pushed Minnesota Duluth (21-8), the second seed in the NSIC North, to the brink in the opening round of the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament as the Bulldogs snuck away with a 92-87 win in double overtime.
 
Looking to spring an upset in the opening round of the tournament for the second time in four year, the Golden Bears put themselves in great positions to close it out as they had chances at the end of regulation and the first overtime, but the winning shot proved to be just out of reach as UMD outlasted CSP in a thrilling contest. The loss drops Concordia to 13-17 in the all-time series with Minnesota Duluth and 4-17 all-time in the NSIC Tournament.
 
One game after setting a season high in made threes against Upper Iowa, the Golden Bears let it fly against UMD as they knocked down 16 of their 42 three-point attempts to finish with a massive 30-point advantage from beyond the arc as the Bulldogs hit just 6 of 23. Minnesota Duluth held the efficiency advantage from the floor and at the free throw line as they finished at 45.3% (29-64) overall and 87.5% (28-32) from the line compared to 41.9% (31-74) and 56.3% (9-16) for CSP, respectively.
 
Concordia also got much more production from their bench with a 28-10 edge in bench scoring while they also tallied a 16-12 edge in points off of turnovers. The Bulldogs, however, took advantage down low as they used a 46-26 advantage in points in the paint to aid their effort.
 
Golden Bear senior Max Keefe finished his career strong with 16 points on 6-12 shooting and 4-7 from deep as he also added a pair of assists and a pair of rebounds on the night. Keefe finishes his career at sixth all-time at CSP with an 81.3% career free throw percentage in addition to sitting in a tie for ninth with 61 career blocks.
 
Jordan Coblin reached the 20+ point plateau for the 10^th time on the season as he led the team with 20 point on 8-15 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Perion Little chipped in a season-best 15 points on 5-9 from beyond the arc while Carlos Barela contributed 11 points, eight boards and four assists in the loss.
 
Brandon Myer, the second leading scorer in the NSIC this season, carried the load for the Bulldogs as he followed up back-to-back 40 point performances with 35 points and 15 rebounds in the win. The senior big man hit 10-20 from the floor and 13-15 from the stripe in a game-high 49 minutes of action.
 
The Golden Bears jumped ahead early in the contest as they scored 10 of the first 13 points before the Bulldogs rattled off 17 straight points to take a 20-10 lead nearly nine minutes into the game. The UMD lead remained at nine at 30-21 with 5:20 left in the half before CSP rattled off a 14-6 run to pull within one in the final minute before the break. Minnesota Duluth picked up the last two buckets heading into the locker room as they held a 40-35 lead at the half.
 
Concordia opened the second just like the first as they grabbed nine of the first 11 points to regain the lead at 44-42 at the 18:05 mark. The two teams jostled for the lead over the next several minutes as CSP held a one point advantage at 52-51 before UMD went on a 9-0 run to jump out to a 60-52 lead with 10:55 to play. CSP answered with a 7-0 run of their own to close the gap back to one, but the Bulldogs stemmed the tide and maintained a slim lead until the closing minutes.
 
Minnesota Duluth had the lead at five with three minutes to go before Coblin went on a 5-0 run on his own over the next minute to even the score at 70-70. After a pair of free throws on the other end, Coblin was back at it with a made free throw and a layup with 47 seconds on the clock to give the Golden Bears a 73-72 advantage. Brandon Myer hit 1-2 at the line to even the score 13 seconds later before a shot clock violation on the ensuing possession for the Golden Bears sent the game to the extra session.
 
The Bulldogs delivered the first blow in overtime as they built a five point advantage at 79-74 at the midway point of the period before three threes in the span of a minute, one from Little and two from Keefe, put the Golden Bears in front 83-81 with 1:26 to play. CSP had a chance to add to the lead on their next possession, but UMD picked up a big stop before tying it up with a pair of free throws. Concordia then had a pair of attempts from deep in the final 10 seconds of the first overtime rim out as the two teams played on.
 
Both teams got off to a slow start in the second overtime as each team managed just two points apiece over nearly three minutes before UMD started to pull away. The Bulldogs scored six points in a row until a Coblin layup with 26 seconds left cut it back to four. UMD added one final point on a late free throw to bring it to the final score of 92-87 in double overtime as Minnesota Duluth moved on to the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals.