ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-9, 0-6 NSIC) hits the road for the final time in the 2020-21 regular season as they travel to Winona State (4-5, 2-4 NSIC) this weekend for a pair of NSIC contests. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.

ATTENDANCE POLICY
No fans will be in attendance for contests in McCown Gymnasium.

WATCH ONLINE - NSIC NETWORK
Powered by the NSIC Network, all Northern Sun home and away basketball games will be broadcast online, free of charge. Visit www.nsicnetwork.com/cspbears to watch the Golden Bears. Away games will feature production and commentary by the host institution, while home games are broadcast by Keemotion technology with the play-by-play call of Dan Flanagan, voice of the Golden Bears for over a decade. Flanagan is a St. Paul native who professionally trained in broadcasting at Fordham University in New York where he was the voice of the basketball and football teams, among other sports. NSIC Network Announcement & FAQ

WATCH ON YOUR TV
The NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology, is available to download on your favorite OTT providers like Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Simply search for "NSIC" or "NSIC Network" and download the app for a full listing of Northern Sun action on your TV.  NSIC Network Announcement & FAQ

WATCH ON THE GO
Download the NSIC Network app in the Google Play Store or the App Store on your Apple device to watch on your smartphone, a new feature from BlueFrame Technology.  NSIC Network Announcement & FAQ

FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Not able to watch or keep an eye on live stats? Check in on social media by following our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds. Each platform will have different levels of engagement. Twitter will offer scoring updates, Instagram will feature live look-ins and engaging content and Facebook is a great place to get links to previews, recaps and more. Simply search for CSP Bears on any of the platforms, and remember to #BeGolden!

LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend at Gangelhoff Center, CSP fell short twice against Upper Iowa.

On Friday, the Golden Bears dropped a tight battle with Upper Iowa by a score of 84-76. Trailing by 17 points midway through the second half, the Golden Bears fought their way back to within four in the final few minutes, but they were unable to complete the comeback as the Peacocks hung on for the win.

The Golden Bears were the far more efficient squad in the contest as they knocked down 46.2% (30-65) from the floor and 38.9% (7-18) from deep while holding the Peacocks to just 40.3% (31-77) and 27.8% (5-18), respectively. Turnovers played a major role as UIU turned 20 CSP turnovers into 21 points while Concordia turned 10 Upper Iowa turnovers into seven points.

Freshman Marcus Skeete made it back-to-back 20-10 performances as he matched his career best with 22 points to go along with 10 boards. Skeete hit 10-15 from the floor and blocked a pair of shots in 32 minutes. Carlos Barela matched Skeete's scoring total with 22 points on 8-15 shooting while adding three rebounds and two assists. Jax Madson chipped in 11 points and five rebounds while hitting 3-3 from three-point range and Keenan Jones also hit 3-3 from deep for nine points.
 
In Saturday's loss, CSP saw UIU pull away 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. That was not enough to overcome advantages on the glass and in transition for the Peacocks. UIU held a 46-32 rebounding edge, including an 18-8 edge on the glass, while also holding a 21-4 advantage on the fast break.

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. Carlos Barela joined the pair in double figures with 10 points and a team-best four assists.

WSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears head into this weekend's meetings with Winona State with a record of 7-48 against the Warriors. Amazingly, WSU won the first 31 meetings from 1986-2008 before CSP registered their first win in the series. Despite the overall record, Concordia has been successful against the Warriors in the past few years with four wins in the past 11. In 29 meetings in Winona, CSP is 5-24.

LAST MEETING VS WSU
Nearly a year ago on Feb. 21, 2020, Concordia fell 74-60 to Winona State at Gangelhoff Center.

Turnovers played a big role in the contest as Winona State forced 15 CSP turnovers and turned them into 17 points while Concordia turned seven WSU turnovers into four points. The Warriors also utilized a 32-26 edge in points in the paint and a 10-2 edge in second chance points in the win. CSP did manage a 34-32 advantage on the glass, however, as well as a 16-10 advantage in bench scoring and an 8-4 advantage in fast breaks.
 
Both teams struggled from the floor in the opening half as CSP shot 33.3% and WSU shot 36.7% before both teams heated up in a big way after the break with the Golden Bears shooting 55.6% and the Warriors shooting 52.9%. Overall for the game, Concordia finished at 45.1% (23-51) while Winona State knocked down 45.3% (29-64).

Lee Higgins led the squad with 15 points on 5-8 shooting in nearly 39 minutes of action while Carlos Barela joined him double figures with 11 points to go along with six boards. Cody Carlson added nine points while Jordan Coblin chipped in seven points, six rebounds and four assists.
 
Winona State's duo of Kevion Taylor and Caleb Wagner accounted for 63.5% of the team's offense as Taylor led all players with 24 points on 9-18 from the floor and 5-11 from deep while Caleb Wagner followed close behind with 23 points and five assists.

ABOUT THE WARRIORS
The 2020-21 season has featured some ups and downs for Winona State as they caught fire after having several games canceled early in the season before cooling off in recent weeks. After winning three in a row in the middle of January on the road, the Warriors have dropped four of five as they head into the weekend with a 4-5 record overall and a 2-4 mark in NSIC South play.

Last Friday, Kevion Taylor had one of his best nights ever as a Warrior and Luke Martens could not miss, as the pair lead the Winona State men's basketball team picked up an important NSIC South win on the road against Minnesota State, dropping the Mavericks 86-71. Kevion Taylor led all scorers with 30 on the evening, and hauled in eight rebounds in his strongest scoring effort of the season for head coach Todd Eisner.  Luke Martens did not miss from the floor or the foul line, going 6-for-6 from the field and 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.  He also notched three steals and six boards among his key contributions to the Warrior win, where he played 35 minutes.

On Saturday, Kevion Taylor continued his strong season for the Warriors against Minnesota State on Saturday, but the Mavericks pulled away in the second half to deal WSU a 89-64 setback. Winona State was within striking distance at the break, down five at 42-37. Taylor tallied 23 of his points before halftime, but Maverick adjustments saw him score only two in the second half.

Taylor has been the go-to scorer for the Warriors this season as his 20.9 points per game rank second in the conference while his 6.2 rebounds per game also lead the team. He is the lone Warrior to average double figures as Andrea Lo Biando (9.9), Connor Dillon (9.9), Luke Martens (8.9), Owen King (8.8) and Devin Whitelow (8.6)  all average between 8.6 and 9.9 points per game.

NSIC LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears thrived in several statistical areas as they rank in the top half of the NSIC in four different categories. CSP has caused trouble for their opponents with 4.8 blocks per game, good for second in the league, while they rank seventh in free throw percentage (74.1%), and eighth in defensive field goal percentage (46.0%), assists per game (13.1) and steals per game (6.0).
 
Individually, seven different players rank inside the top 25 in at least one category.

Carlos Barela ranks near the top in four different areas, sitting in fifth in free throw percentage (83.3%), 11th in the NSIC steals per game (1.4), 21st in points per game (13.5) and 24th in minutes per game (30.3).

Caden Hoffman currently ranks 21st in assists per game (2.7) and 23rd in threes made per game (1.8) while Marcus Skeete registers in at ninth in rebounds per game (5.9) and Matt Johns sits at third in blocks per game (2.0). George Scharlau (12th) and Keenan Jones (24th) join Johns in the blocks category and Jax Madson joins Hoffman in threes made per game (22nd).