SIOUX FALLS, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-4, 0-3 NSIC) couldn't keep pace with Augustana (3-2, 1-2 NSIC) as the Golden Bears fell to the Vikings 106-61 on Friday night at Sanford Pentagon.
 
Concordia found themselves in an early hole and they were unable to slow down the Vikings as Augustana cruised to a comfortable win. Augie continued to find success in the all-time series as they won their 18^th in a row over CSP as the Golden Bears fell to 5-25 against the Vikings.
 
The Golden Bears were held to 36.5% (19-52) from the floor for the night and just 23.3% (7-30) from deep while the Vikings connected on 49.4% (38-77) and 36.4% (12-33), respectively.
 
Augie took advantage of 22 CSP turnovers to hold a 31-4 advantage in points off turnovers while also utilizing their massive front line on the offensive glass and in the paint. The Vikings used a 20-7 edge in offensive rebounds to outscore Concordia 21-8 in second chance points to go along with a 48-20 edge in points in the paint.
 
Carlos Barela provided a bright spot for the Golden Bears as he finished with a team-best 14 points on 4-7 shooting and 5-6 from the line while pulling down three boards. Caden Hoffman chipped in 10 points, three rebounds and two assists while hitting all six attempts from the free throw line. Matt Johns and Jacob Shields contributed nine points apiece as well.
 
Michael Schaefer paced the Vikings off the bench with 18 points in 7-12 from the field while Isaac Fink added a double-double with 12 points, 12 boards and seven assists in the win.
 
Augustana jumped ahead early with eight of the first 10 points of the game before continuing the run for much of the rest of the half. An extended 24-6 run a few minutes later pushed the lead out to 35-11 with 4:11 to go in the opening half before CSP slowed the tide. Concordia rattled off a 10-4 run to cut it back to 18 before the Vikings pushed it to 43-21 at the break.
 
Seven straight points after an early Augie bucket to start the second half shrunk the deficit back down to 17, but a 15-3 run in favor of the Vikings put it out of reach. Augustana slowly padded their advantage throughout the rest of the night as they eventually settled with a 106-61 victory.
 
The two teams will be back at it again tomorrow with a 3 p.m. tip-off at Sanford Pentagon.