ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team is set for a split weekend of conference play as they host Winona State (4-2, 0-1 NSIC) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and travel to Upper Iowa (6-0, 1-0 NSIC) on Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
CSP CAMPUS MASKING POLICY
Visitors to Concordia-St. Paul should observe the general campus masking guidelines. All unvaccinated individuals are required to mask at all times while indoors on campus. For individuals who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, masks are strongly encouraged. Thank you for abiding by the policies as set forth by campus administration.
 
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
New this year to Golden Bears is online ticketing. Buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
 
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC men's and women's basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
 
LAST TIME OUT
On Saturday night, the Golden Bears dropped a heartbreaker on the road as a last second bucket gave MSU Denver a 71-68 win in Denver.
 
The Golden Bears put together an impressive performance in a tough road environment as they led by as many as 10 points on the night and held a one point advantage with 1:27 to play, but Ra'Shawn Langston provided the game-winner with a floater in the lane to seal the victory for the hosts.
 
CSP delivered their best shooting performance of the season as they knocked down 47.1% (24-51) from the floor, 45.5% (10-22) from beyond the arc and 90.9% (10-11) as they edged MSUD in all three. The Roadrunners, on the other side, finished at 43.8% (28-64), 42.9% (6-14) and 75.0% (9-12), respectively.
 
Concordia added a 33-29 rebounding advantage, including a 25-18 on the defensive glass, as well as a 17-4 advantage in bench scoring and a 15-11 advantage on points off turnovers on the night.
 
Jacob Everson had his best game in navy and gold as he hit 5-6 from the floor and 4-5 from three-point range for a career-best 16 points. He added four rebounds in 33 minutes of action. Marcus Skeete followed close behind with 14 points as he fell a rebound short of a double-double with nine. Elijah Ormiston gave the Golden Bears three players in double figures with 11 points and four boards in the loss.
 
WSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears head into this Thursday's meeting with Winona State with a record of 7-50 against the Warriors. WSU won the first 31 meetings from 1986-2008 before CSP registered their first win in the series. Despite the overall record, Concordia has found more success against the Warriors in the past few years with four wins in the past 13. In 23 meetings in Winona, CSP is 2-21.
 
LAST MEETING VS WSU
Back on Feb. 13, Winona State completed the weekend sweep of CSP as the Golden Bears fell 77-58 at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The second game of the weekend followed a very similar script as the Golden Bears closed the gap to four early in the second half before the Warriors ballooned their lead down the stretch to claim the sweep.
 
Sophomore George Scharlau was nearly perfect from the field as the big man hit six of his seven shots for a career-high 17 points off the bench. Scharlau knocked down 2-3 from deep and 3-4 from the free throw line while chipping in six rebounds and two assists.
 
Marcus Skeete reached double figures for the fifth time in six games as he finished with 10 points while Matt Johns hit 4-5 from the field to pick up eight points. Jax Madson added six points and six boards while Caden Hoffman had five rebounds and five assists.
 
ABOUT THE WARRIORS
Winona State opened the season strong with wins in their first three contests, including a pair of wins against region opponents, but have since dropped three of four against NSIC foes. After falling to Upper Iowa in the conference opener 85-72, the Warriors claimed a weekend split in non-conference play with a loss to MSUM and a win over UMary.
 
WSU has done a good job taking care of the basketball as their 9.8 turnovers per game and 1.42 assist-to-turnover ratio both rank third in the NSIC. The Warriors also rank in the top half in field goal percentage and field goal defense as their 49.6% mark sits in sixth and his 43.0% opponent field goal percentage sits in eighth.
 
Alec Rosner has been the leading offensive threat for WSU so far this season as his 17.8 points per game rank seventh in the NSIC. Rosner has been extremely efficient from the floor, hitting 56.3% from the floor and 53.6% from deep while connecting on 2.5 made threes per game. Devin Whitelow ranks seventh in assists per game at 4.2 while Luke Martens' 7.2 rebounds per game rank 11^th.
 
UIU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter the weekend's contests with a record of 15-20 against the Peacocks. CSP has found most of their success against UIU in Fayette as they have won nine of 16 meetings there. On their own home court, the Golden Bears have gone 6-11 against the Peacocks. Concordia's best stretch in the series came from 2004-12 with a record of 11-3 during that span. Since December 2014, Upper Iowa has gone 12-2 in the series. Concordia's last win against the Peacocks came back on Feb. 22, 2020 in a 93-61 win at Gangelhoff Center.
 
LAST MEETING VS UIU
In the last meeting on Feb. 6 in St. Paul, Concordia dropped their second straight contest to Upper Iowa on the weekend as the Peacocks claimed a 99-74 win.
 
Trailing by just three with six minutes to play in the first half, Upper Iowa finished the contest on 66-44 run the rest of the way to cruise to victory.
 
Matt Johns set the Division II-era school record with six blocked shots on the afternoon as the Golden Bears fell one shy of the team record with 12.
 
The freshmen duo of Jax Madson and Marcus Skeete paced the squad with efficient efforts as Madson scored 14 points on 6-8 shooting and 2-3 from three-point range while Skeete scored 13 on 6-9 shooting. Skeete made it three consecutive double-doubles as he matched his career high with 13 boards.
 
ABOUT THE PEACOCKS
Upper Iowa enters the weekend with a perfect 6-0 record, winning all but one game by double figures. In the conference opener with Winona State last week, UIU cruised to an 85-72 win on their home court. They followed it up with an impressive 103-77 victory over the second-ranked team in the country, Truman State.
 
The Peacocks boast the fourth highest scoring offense in the NSIC as they average 86.5 points per game while holding opponents to 72.2, good for a +14.3 margin, also good for fourth in the league. UIU has taken advantage of a conference-leading 11.5 threes made per game while connecting on the second-best clip at 41.3%. They have been equally effective defensively beyond the arc as they have held their opponents to 28.5%.
 
Upper Iowa features three of the top 20 scorers in the NSIC as Jareese Williams sits in fifth at 18.3 points per game while Joe Smoldt ranks 11^th at 16.7 and Jake Hilmer ranks 20^th with 14.7. Williams and Smoldt sit in a tie for second with 3.5 made threes per game while Hilmer's 5.2 assists per game rank third.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears have had four different players that rank near the top of the league in different statistical categories.
 
After his massive performance last week in which he averaged 21.0 points on 63.2% from the floor, Marcus Skeete jumped up to 16^th in the NSIC in scoring (16.1) and sixth in field goal percentage (62.5%). Jack Stensgard and Caden Hoffman are currently tied for 16^th in the league with 3.0 assists per game while Matt Johns (fourth with 1.4) and Stensgard (14^th with 0.9) both rank in the top-15 in blocks per game.
 
As a team, the Golden Bears have held their opponents to the seventh-worst three-point field goal percentage in the league at 33.3% while they also sit in sixth in assists per game at 14.6 and eighth in blocked shots per game at 3.1.