ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-3) dropped a fast paced contest to Minnesota Duluth (4-0) by a score of 99-76 at Gangelhoff Center on Friday night in non-conference play.
The Bulldogs controlled the game in the paint as they connected on 70.0% (35-50) inside the arc to claim a 66-38 edge in points in the paint. Overall, UMD shot 60.3% (41-68) from the floor in the win.
On the other side, CSP was held to 39.7% (24-63) shooting and 26.7% (4-15) from three-point range. The Golden Bears, however, held a significant edge at the free throw line as they hit 22-27 (81.5%) compared to 11-19 (57.9%) for the Bulldogs. Concordia also tallied a massive 39-8 advantage in bench scoring.
Sunday John played a major role in that bench advantage as he hit 5-6 from the floor and 7-7 from the charity stripe to lead the team with career-best 18 points. He added six boards in his 18 minutes of action.
John was one of four Golden Bears in double figures in scoring as he was joined by
Marcus Skeete,
Elijah Ormiston and
Jack Stensgard. Skeete connected on six of his 10 attempts to finish with 15 points and five rebounds while Ormiston put up 12 points on 5-9 shooting to go along with a team-best eight boards. Stensgard tacked on 10 points and five assists on the night.
The trio of Charlie Katona, Drew Blair and Austin Andrews combined to score 77 of the team's 99 points in the winning effort. Katona led all players with 28 points and nine rebounds while Blair had 27 points and five rebounds and Andrews had 22 points and nine rebounds.
After
Reid Patterson buried a three at the 15:38 mark to give the Golden Bears a 9-8 lead, the Bulldogs took control with 10 of the next 12 points, highlighted by seven straight points from Blair, to build an 18-11 edge seven minutes in. That lead reached double figures a few minutes later as an 8-0 run turned a 22-16 deficit into a 30-16 deficit with 8:59 left in the half. UMD pushed it to as many as 17 in the opening 20 minutes at 38-21 before Concordia turned the momentum in their favor. CSP strung together an extended 17-6 run to trim it to a two possession game at 44-38 before a deep Blair three before the buzzer extended it back to nine at 47-38 at the break.
Concordia remained within single digits at 53-44 with 17:33, but a 16-4 run over the next six minutes put the game out of reach. The lead reached as many as 24 on a few occasions in the second half as the Bulldogs finished off a 99-76 victory.
The Golden Bears open up NSIC action next Tuesday as they play host to Minnesota State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
