ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-2, 0-1 NSIC) dropped their NSIC home opener to Wayne State (1-2, 1-0 NSIC) by a score of 88-76 on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears picked up the pace down the stretch as they outscored the Wildcats 45-38 in the second half, including a 26-9 run to close out the game, but it was too little too late as WSC came out on top in the first game in league play.
Wayne State held CSP to just 38.6% (27-70) from the floor and 23.1% (9-39) from three-point range on the night to aid their effort. The Wildcats also knocked down 48.4% (31-64) of their shots and 41.7% (10-24) from deep in the win. Concordia did manage to claim a 29-20 advantage in bench scoring as well as a 20-13 edge in fast break points and a 14-7 edge in second chance points, but it was not enough to overcome the shooting difference on the night.
Carlos Barela paced the Golden Bears with 14 points as he added five boards, five assists and three steals in a full line.
Caden Hoffman chipped in 11 points, six rebounds and a pair of assists while
Jax Madson and
Noah Kannegiesser each added 10 points apiece. Madson also contributed seven boards and two steals while Kannegiesser matched Barela with a team-high five assists.
The forward pair of Henry Penner and Jordan Janssen were difference makers for Wayne State as Penner led all players with 28 points on 10-14 shooting and 6-9 from beyond the arc and Janssen put up 24 points and seven boards on 8-11 from the floor in just 21 minutes.
After Madson opened the scoring with an and-one and Barela put CSP back in front at 5-3 one minute later, the Wildcats took the lead for good with a 14-2 run to make it 17-7 just over five minutes in. The run continued from there as WSC extended their lead out to 13 near the midway point of the half. The Golden Bears trimmed the deficit down to eight several times over the next few minutes, including at the 7:17 mark at 33-25, but another big run for Wayne State, this time a 17-3 burst, gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the half at 50-28. A late Hoffman three brought it to 50-31 heading to the break.
Wayne State remained comfortably in control for much of the second half as they ballooned the lead out to 29 at 79-50 with 10:59 to go, but the Golden Bears showed some major resilience as they battled back down the stretch with the second unit on the court. Still down 25 at 85-60 with just over five minutes to play, Concordia rattled off a 16-3 run to finish out the game, including an 11-0 burst over the final three minutes to make things interesting. Unfortunately for the Golden Bears, time was not on their side as WSC held on for the 88-76 victory.
The two teams will be back at it tomorrow at Gangelhoff Center with a 2 p.m. tip-off.
