ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the second consecutive game, the Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (1-7, 0-2 NSIC) was done in by a last second game winner as an and-one layup with 4.4 seconds to play gave Winona State (5-2, 1-1 NSIC) a 68-63 victory at Gangelhoff Center.
 
Trailing by as many as 15 points in the second half, including a 13 point deficit with 11:51 to play, the Golden Bears showed their resilience as they stormed back with an 18-3 run to take the lead in the closing minutes. WSU finished strong, however, as they scored the final seven points to move to 51-7 in the all-time series and 22-2 in St. Paul.
 
Marcus Skeete once again paced the Golden Bears as he played the role of creator on the night, flirting with a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in 28 minutes of action. The double-double was his first of the season and his fourth of his career.
 
Jacob Everson matched Skeete for the team lead in scoring as he put up an efficient 13 points on 4-6 shooting and 3-4 from the floor. Elijah Ormiston added eight points and five boards on the night.
 
As has been the case throughout much of the season, Concordia got production from their bench as the second unit outscored WSU's 29-11 on the night. Ian Sluice hit a perfect 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from three-point range to finish with 11 points while Caden Hoffman knocked down 4-5 overall and 3-4 from deep to also finish with 11 points.
 
Winona State took advantage on the turnover front as they turned 14 CSP turnovers into 20 points while holding the Golden Bears to just eight points on WSU's 11 turnovers. The Warriors also utilized a 34-28 edge in points in the paint as well as a 14-11 edge in second chance points in the win.
 
Devin Whitelow, who delivered the game-winner in the closing moments of the contest, led all players with 18 points to go along with five rebounds, three steals and two assists for WSU. Alec Rosner added 15 points while Luke Martens had 11 points and nine boards in the game.
 
With three lead changes in the opening three minutes, Winona State rattled off a 10-2 run to turn a 6-5 CSP lead into a 15-8 WSU lead. The Golden Bears tied it back up with the next seven in a row before an extended 23-7 burst gave the Warriors their largest lead of the night at 16. With the margin still at 16 at 41-25 with 15 seconds to go, Hoffman buried a late three to bring it to 41-28 after 20 minutes of play.
 
The lead was back at 15 in the opening moments of the second half, but Concordia answered with a quick 10-0 run to trim it all the way down to five at 43-38 with 15:25 on the clock. Winona stemmed the tide as they extended the lead back out to 13 at 58-45 at the 10:56 mark before CSP strung together another big run, this time an 18-3 stretch, to take their first lead of the half at 63-61. Following Ormiston's go-ahead layup with 3:05 to play, buckets became hard to come by on both ends of the court. Connor Drew tied the game with 1:02 left to play before Whitelow got the hoop and the foul with 4.4 left to give the Warriors the lead for good. Martens sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 1.5 seconds to play to bring it to the final score of 68-63.
 
Concordia hits the road on Saturday afternoon as they take on Upper Iowa at 2 p.m. in NSIC action.