ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-12, 0-7 NSIC) closed out 2021 with an 80-69 loss to Sioux Falls (7-6, 3-4 NSIC) on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears were able to work some easy looks in the second half, shooting 62.1% (18-29) from the floor to outscore the Cougars 41-34 in the final 20 minutes, with 32 of those 41 points coming in the paint, but it wasn't quite enough as CSP fell to 6-20 in the all-time series.
Free throw shooting and rebounding proved to be the difference as USF held a 47-30 edge on the glass, including a 15-5 edge in offensive rebounding to hold a 19-6 advantage in second chance points. At the free throw line, the Cougars connected on 22-27 (81.5%) while the Golden Bears hit just 14-28 (50.0%) on the night.
Jacob Everson kept CSP afloat in the opening half as he scored 16 of his game-high and career-high 21 points before the break. On the night, he hit 7-11 from the floor and 2-4 from three-point range with six rebounds, three assists and two steals in 35 minutes of action.
Elijah Ormiston also filled the stat sheet with 16 points, a team-best eight boards and four assists as he hit 6-12 shooting.
Sunday John and
Marcus Skeete gave the team four players in double figures as John hit 4-6 from the floor for 11 points while Skeete finished with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Jack Thompson led the way for the Cougars with 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three blocks and two steals in the win.
After seeing the Cougars cling to a slim lead throughout the opening minutes of the contest, back-to-back buckets for
Sunday John near the midway point of the half gave CSP a 15-14 lead. USF responded with a 7-0 run as they took the lead for good. The Cougars added to that lead down the stretch of the first half as they scored 17 of the game's final 21 points to take a 46-28 lead into the locker room.
The Golden Bears slowly began chipping away early in the second half, eventually pulling to within seven at 59-52 with 9:05 to play following a 7-2 run spearheaded by John. Sioux Falls quickly regained a lead in double figures before CSP trimmed it back to nine at 6:02 with a score of 69-60. That would be all the closer they would get as USF went on to take the contest by a score of 80-69.
The Golden Bears will now head into the legislated break as they do not return to action until a Jan. 2 road trip to Minnesota State.
