ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (1-11, 0-6 NSIC) dropped a shootout to Southwest Minnesota State (7-4, 3-3 NSIC) in an 83-70 loss at Gangelhoff Center on Friday night.
 
The Golden Bears set new season highs in both threes made and three-point field goal percentage as they knocked down 13-26 from deep for a 50.0% mark. Their 13 made threes were the most since knocking down 16 in a dramatic double-overtime loss to Minnesota Duluth in the opening round of the NSIC Tournament back on Feb. 26, 2020. Overall from the floor, CSP knocked down 45.6% (26-57) for the game, including a mark of 48.1% (13-27) in the second half.
 
The Mustangs were even more efficient from the floor as they connected on 61.0% (36-59) on the night, hitting 63.6% (21-33) before the break and 57.7% (15-26) after. While CSP had a huge advantage from beyond the arc, SMSU claimed a 60-26 edge in points in the paint as well as a 29-16 edge in bench scoring in the victory. Southwest Minnesota State improved to 31-13 all-time against the Golden Bears and 13-9 in St. Paul with the win.
 
The freshman trio of Jacob Everson, Reid Patterson and Ian Sluice combined for 11 of the team's 13 threes as Everson and Patterson had four each and Sluice had three. Everson missed just one of his six shots from the floor and finished 4-4 from deep to finish with 14 points while Patterson hit 4-6 to match his team-leading 14 points. Sluice knocked down 5-9 from the floor and 3-6 from beyond the arc to finish a point shy with 13.
 
Elijah Ormiston tacked on eight points and a team-best eight boards while Sunday John chipped in seven points, including a pair of fast break dunks.
 
Jake Phipps proved to be a handful down low for the Mustangs as he led all players with 25 points on 12-16 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and five assists.
 
It was an even start as the two teams split the first 20 points to make it 10-10 at the 16:30 mark, but the Mustangs shifted the momentum in their favor with a 14-0 run over the next three plus minutes. The lead grew to 16 just past the midway point of the half at 29-13 and again at 31-15 before CSP trimmed it back to single digits. A 9-2 run pulled Concordia within nine at 33-24 with 6:38 to play in the half and had it back down to the same margin at the 2:16 mark on a Sluice three, but SMSU claimed the last two baskets of the half to take a 45-32 advantage into the locker room.
 
The lead stayed in that range in the early stages of the second half, eventually reaching 17 at 56-39, but CSP responded with their best stretch of the contest with an 11-0 run to make it a two possession game at 56-50 with 14:18 to go. The run required less than two and a half minutes as Concordia knocked down three three-pointers sandwiched around a George Scharlau dunk to put the pressure on SMSU. With the Golden Bears still within six at 58-52 a minute and a half later, Southwest Minnesota State rattled off eight straight points to push it back to double figures for good. Their lead reached as many as 18 before they settled with an 83-70 victory on the night.
 
Concordia will host Sioux Falls tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center in their final game before the holiday break.