ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-1) saw their second straight game go down to the wire as they had a pair of game-tying three-point attempts rim out in the closing seconds of a 66-63 loss to Rogers State (2-0) on Saturday afternoon in the DoubleTree by Hilton Roseville Minneapolis Classic.
 
There was very little that separated the two teams on the day as there were 11 ties and 11 lead changes throughout the contest while neither team led by more than eight. Concordia led for 21:55 in the game, including virtually the entire first half, but it was Devin Pullum that gave the Hillcats the lead for good with a go-ahead bucket with 44 seconds to play. Jack Stensgard and Matt Johns each had a look with a chance to tie it up in the final 11 seconds, but RSU managed to cling to their lead to finish the weekend with a pair of wins.
 
Concordia's bench provided the squad with a major spark in the contest as CSP's reserves combined for 33 of the team's 63 points, compared to just nine bench points for the Hillcats. Roy Grigsby, Marcus Skeete and Reid Patterson paced the group as Grigsby scored 11 points, Skeete had 10 and Patterson had eight. Grigsby and Patterson each connected on 4-7 from the floor as Grigsby connected on 3-5 from deep and Skeete chipped in six boards.
 
After connecting on 47.8% (11-23) in the opening 20 minutes, Concordia cooled off after the break, shooting 35.3% (12-34) over the final 20 minutes to finish the game at 40.4% (23-57). RSU won the turnover battle as they forced 18 CSP turnovers while committing 12 to finish with a 19-12 edge in points off turnovers. They also managed a 38-26 advantage in points in the paint to aid the victory.
 
Jax Madson finished with nine points and three rebounds while Jack Stensgard had eight points, four rebounds and two assists. Elijah Ormiston led the team with eight rebounds to go along with four points and two assists to go along with six rebounds, six assists and three points from Caden Hoffman.
 
Devin Pullum and Joey Saracco led the way for Rogers State as Pullum led all players with 20 points and Saracco contributed 16 points and eight boards.
 
As was the case in the season opener, the Golden Bears got off to a flying start as they opened on a 12-4 run to build their largest lead of the day just over five minutes in. RSU responded with a 7-0 run to cut it to one before taking their first lead of the day at 16-15 at the 11:36 mark. Concordia answered with five straight points before pushing the lead back to five at 27-22 with 4:21 to go in the half, but Rogers State closed the half strong with two late buckets to tie it up at 32-32.
 
After the Hillcats connected on a three-pointer to open the half to take the lead, Concordia exploded with a 12-4 run over the next four and a half minutes, capped by eight straight from Stensgard, to build a 44-39 lead. Rogers State answered with a 5-0 run to tie it up, setting up a stretch in which there were six ties and two lead changes with neither team leading by more than four over the next 10 minutes. Patterson tied it up for the final time at 3:50 with a jumper in the lane before Johns buried a three to give CSP a 61-60 lead with 2:44 left on the clock. Ormiston answered a Saracco layup with a go-ahead bucket of his own with just 1:13 to go, but Pullum provided what proved to be the game-winner with 44 seconds to play. He added a pair of made free throws to bring it to the final score of 66-63.
 
The Golden Bears will look to get back in the win column as they travel to Bemidji State on Tuesday night in non-conference action.