SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-10, 0-5 NSIC) fell to Augustana (9-1, 3-1 NSIC) by a score of 75-58 on Saturday night at Sanford Pentagon.
The Golden Bears nearly erased a double-digit first half deficit as they pulled within two midway through the second, but the Vikings turned the tide in their favor down the stretch as they won their 20
th in a row in the all-time series as CSP fell to 5-27 against Augie.
CSP's defense made things tough for a solid Augustana squad as they held the Vikings to just 28.6% (4-14) from three-point range and 43.5% (30-69) from the floor on the night. The Golden Bears outscored the Vikings 21-12 from beyond the arc as they finished 7-21 (33.3%) from deep and 22-53 (41.5%) overall in the contest.
The Vikings took advantage of a 14-3 edge on the offensive glass as they outscored Concordia 12-2 in second chance points. Augie added a 42-26 advantage in points in the paint and a 19-10 advantage in points off turnovers to aid their effort.
The Concordia trio of
Marcus Skeete,
Elijah Ormiston and
Reid Patterson combined for 42 of the team's 58 points as all three reached double figures on the night. Skeete filled the box score with 17 points, six boards, five assists and two steals while connecting on 6-13 shooting. Ormiston finished a rebound shy of his first career double-double as he tallied 13 points and nine rebounds in the game.
Reid Patterson set a new career high with 12 points to go along with two rebounds and two assists while hitting 5-10 from the floor and 2-6 from three-point range.
Tyler Riemersma put up a massive performance for Augustana as he led all players with 23 points, 15 rebounds and six assists while Adam Dykman put up 14 points and eight boards in the win.
After seeing the Vikings jump out to an early 9-2 lead, CSP responded with 11 of the next 13 points to even up the score at 13-13 at the 12:48 mark. The Golden Bears remained within two at 19-17 at the under-10 media timeout before a 12-0 run in favor of Augustana over the next three minutes extended their lead to 31-17. Concordia answered with an 8-2 burst to trim it back to single digits at 33-25 before Augie matched their largest lead of the half with two minutes to play at 39-25. Ormiston and Skeete grabbed the final two buckets of the half to trim it to 39-29 after 20 minutes of play.
Augustana opened the second half with the first three points, but the Golden Bears quickly shifted the momentum from there as they scored the next seven points in a row as a part of a larger 15-4 run to pull within two at 46-44. The deficit remained at two at 51-49 and again at 54-52 with 7:52 to play before the Vikings regained control with an 8-0 run. Augie continued to tack on to their lead down the stretch as they eventually pushed it to 17 at the final margin of 75-58.
CSP will look to get back in the win column next weekend at home as they host Southwest Minnesota State on Friday and Sioux Falls on Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. both nights.
