ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (6-15, 4-13 NSIC) put together a strong push in the second half, but they were unable to turn it into a victory as they fell to Bemidji State (10-11, 7-10 NSIC) by a score of 84-76 on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
CSP found themselves in a deep hole in the first half and early in the second before a late surge pulled them within a couple of possessions, but it proved to be too little too late as the Beavers held on for the win. The Golden Bears dropped to 16-18 in the all-time series as the Beavers bucked the trend in recent history with their eighth win in the past 23 meetings.
Offensively, the Golden Bears connected on 45.5% (25-55) from the floor for the game as they hit at least 44.4% in each half. The Beavers were even better, however, as they hit 50.9% (28-55) overall and 45.5% (10-22) from deep to come out on top. BSU also held a 21-6 edge in bench scoring as well as a 36-28 edge in points in the paint on the night.
Lee Higgins and
Jordan Coblin helped get the Golden Bears back in the game in the second half as Higgins scored 13 of his 20 points and Coblin scored 11 of his 17. Higgins was an efficient 6-11 shooting, 4-7 from deep and 4-4 from the free throw line to go along with five boards, three assists and two steals in a team-leading 37 minutes. Coblin hit 6-14 from the floor and 5-8 from the line on the night while tying for the team lead with a +4 plus/minus.
CSP's two big men
Cody Carlson and
Max Keefe also reached double figures as Carlson finished with 14 points and four boards while Keefe had 12 points on 4-6 shooting to go along with four assists.
Max Bjorklund put up a dominant performance for Bemidji State as he paced all players with 33 points on 12-16 shooting, 5-8 from three-point range and 4-4 from the charity stripe while Ja Morgan came off the bench to score 15 points and dish out four assists in the win.
Concordia opened the night with the first four points of the game before a 10-0 run the other way put the Beavers in front. CSP responded with three straight three-pointers to regain the edge at 13-10, but BSU had the lead for good by the 10:42 mark of the half. With the lead still at just three at 22-19, Bemidji State blew the game open with a 13-0 run keyed by Bjorklund and Morgan to make it 35-19 with 6:43 before the break. That lead eventually grew to as many as 17 at 44-27 before a 5-0 run chipped it down to 44-32 heading to the locker room.
The Beavers were back on the offensive early in the second half as they pushed the lead out to a game-high 18 at 53-35 less than two minutes in and they kept it there until the 16:04 mark at 57-39 before the Golden Bears started to claw their way back. CSP responded with an 18-5 burst to trim the deficit down to five at 62-57 with just over 10 minutes to play, but that would be all the closer they would get as the Beavers held off the charge. The lead remained between six and nine the rest of the way as the Golden Bears had it within a pair of possessions at 82-76 with under a minute to go before a pair of free throws iced the game and brought it to a final score of 84-76.
The Golden Bears are back in action at Gangelhoff Center tomorrow night with a 5:30 p.m. tip-off against Minnesota Crookston.
