CROOKSTON, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-1) came up just short in completing another second half comeback as they fell to Minnesota Crookston (1-1) 84-80 in overtime on Sunday afternoon.
 
CSP erased an 11 point deficit after the break to force an extra session and took their first lead of the day in overtime, but they were unable to hang on as the Golden Eagles closed it out down the stretch.
 
Concordia once again dominated in the paint with a 50-32 advantage in points in the paint while also holding a 34-24 advantage in bench points, but it was not enough to overcome UMC's edge from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles hit 9-23 (39.1%) from deep while holding the Golden Bears to just 4-26 (15.4%) in the win. That proved to be Minnesota-Crookston's only real advantage CSP also won the rebounding battle (41-38), the battle on the fast break (20-14) and points off turnovers (20-12) on the afternoon.
 
With several starters facing foul trouble for the Golden Bears, freshman Marcus Skeete stepped up in a big way off the bench as he paced all players with 22 points on an efficient 10-13 shooting to go along with seven boards over 32 minutes. Fellow freshman Jax Madson reached double figures for the second day in a row with 13 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals.
 
Caden Hoffman chipped in 13 points and five boards while Jacob Shields added 10 points and seven boards before fouling out of the contest.
 
For the Golden Eagles, Brian Sitzmann and Georges Darwiche proved the scoring punch as Sitzmann finished with 19 points and Darwiche had 18 in the win.
 
For the second day in a row, it was all UMC early in the game as the Golden Eagles scored the first 11 points before Madson knocked down a three to get CSP on the board. The lead remained in the seven to 11 point range throughout the next several minutes until an 8-2 run trimmed a 31-21 deficit down to 33-29 with 2:35 left in the half. Minnesota-Crookston pushed the lead back out to seven before settling with a 40-34 edge heading to the locker room.
 
The lead once again reached 11 as the Golden Eagles opened the second half on a 5-0 run to make it 45-34 with 19:22 left, but a quick 9-0 run in the other direction had the Golden Bears right back in it at 45-43. CSP further cut into the UMC lead as they pulled within a point at 55-54 and again at 58-57, but they were unable to get over the hump as a 9-2 run for the Golden Eagles extended the lead back to eight at 67-59 with 6:45 to play. Concordia remained within striking distance down the stretch before tying the game for the first time at 72-72 with 3:12 to go following a Skeete layup and a pair of Shields free throws. Sitzmann gave UMC the lead back with a jumper at 2:24, but Skeete put home another bucket with 46 seconds left to even it up one more time. Minnesota-Crookston had a pair of shots to win it in regulation, but the Golden Bear defense held strong to send the game to overtime.
 
After nearly two minutes of scoreless action to start the extra session, Skeete gave Concordia their first lead before Josh Dilling evened it back up. Two free throws for Shields at the 1:15 mark put CSP back in front, but a crucial and-one bucket for Darwiche gave the Golden Eagles the lead for good. A layup from Carlos Barela with 17 seconds on the clock cut it back to one after two UMC free throws, but Dilling hit two more to push the lead back to three. A three-point look with two seconds left gave Concordia a chance to tie, but Minnesota-Crookston corralled the rebound and iced the game with one more free throw.
 
Cocnordia will look to get back to their winning ways next weekend as they return home for an NSIC home opening weekend with Wayne State. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.