ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-15, 0-9 NSIC) returns home this weekend as they host Minnesota Crookston (4-12, 1-9 NSIC) on Friday and Bemidji State (6-8, 3-7 NSIC) on Saturday in NSIC action.
 
MASK POLICY
In accordance with the City of St. Paul mask requirement for licensed businesses, mask usage is required in all public spaces on campus regardless of vaccination status.
 
CANCER AWARENESS DAY
Saturday's meeting with the Beavers represents Cancer Awareness Day at Gangelhoff Center. During both the men's and women's games, we will be accepting donations to the Minnesota Breast Cancer Coalition.
 
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
New this year to Golden Bears is online ticketing. Buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
 
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC men's and women's basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.
 
LAST TIME OUT
On Monday night, the Golden Bears dropped a fast paced contest by a score of 93-80 at St. Cloud State in non-conference play.
 
Elijah Ormiston continued his impressive scoring surge with a career-high 29 points on 14-20 from the floor, finishing a pair of rebounds shy of a double-double with eight. The true freshman cleared 20 points for the fifth time in eight games as he has averaged 20.8 points per game during that span.
 
He was not the only freshman to fill the stat sheet as Marcus Skeete narrowly missed a double-double with 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Reid Patterson had 14 points and Ian Sluice had 13. Skeete connected on 6-12 from the floor while Patterson hit 4-10 from deep and Sluice hit 3-7 from beyond the arc.
 
Concordia took advantage of their 11 offensive rebounds on the night, turning them into 16 points, while SCSU claimed just four second chance points. CSP also won the battle in the paint with a 40-38 edge down low while their bench outscored the Huskies' reserves 16-9.
 
UMC SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears head into the weekend with a 25-8 record all-time against the Golden Eagles. Concordia's best stretch against UMC came from 2005-2016 as they won 15 of 16 meetings during that span. Since then, Minnesota Crookston has turned the tide a bit with four wins in the past seven meetings. CSP has been especially impressive on their home court as they have gone 13-2 against the Golden Eagles at home. UMC's last win in St. Paul came all the way back on Dec. 7, 2007.
 
LAST MEETING VS UMC
The Golden Bears and the Golden Eagles opened the 2020-21 season with a weekend split back on Jan. 2-3, 2021 in non-conference play.
 
In the season opener, Concordia surged in the second half to give head coach Matt Fletcher his first win at the helm in an 80-56 win at Minnesota-Crookston.
 
Trailing 33-23 with under three minutes to go in the first half, the Golden Bears caught fire as they closed out the final 22:49 on a 57-23 run to claim a comfortable victory. The 24 point victory was the largest victory in a season opener for CSP since grabbing an 84-59 win over Wisconsin-Parkside back on Nov. 21, 2009.
 
It was a tale of two halves shooting as Concordia connected on 37.1% (13-35) in the opening 20 minutes before hitting a scalding 64.3% (18-28) after the break. A good portion of that second half success came from beyond the arc as the Golden Bears improved on their 14.3% (1-7) mark in the opening half to hit 57.1% (8-14) in the second. CSP also put the clamps on defensively in the second half as they held the Golden Eagles to just 25.9% (7-27) after UMC shot 45.5% (15-33) in the first.
 
The next night, the Golden Bears came up just short in completing another second half comeback as they fell to Minnesota Crookston 84-80.
 
CSP erased an 11 point deficit after the break to force an extra session and took their first lead of the day in overtime, but they were unable to hang on as the Golden Eagles closed it out down the stretch.
 
Concordia once again dominated in the paint with a 50-32 advantage in points in the paint while also holding a 34-24 advantage in bench points, but it was not enough to overcome UMC's edge from beyond the arc. The Golden Eagles hit 9-23 (39.1%) from deep while holding the Golden Bears to just 4-26 (15.4%) in the win. That proved to be Minnesota-Crookston's only real advantage CSP also won the rebounding battle (41-38), the battle on the fast break (20-14) and points off turnovers (20-12) on the afternoon.
 
With several starters facing foul trouble for the Golden Bears, freshman Marcus Skeete stepped up in a big way off the bench as he paced all players with 22 points on an efficient 10-13 shooting to go along with seven boards over 32 minutes. Fellow freshman Jax Madson reached double figures for the second day in a row with 13 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals.
 
ABOUT THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Minnesota Crookston got off to a strong start this season as they claimed four wins in their first seven games, including three in a row from Nov. 23-27, but they have since cooled off, dropping their last nine games in a row. UMC's lone conference victory came in a 67-57 win over Bemidji State in the conference opener.
 
The Golden Eagle defense has been tough on their opponents as they 42.5% opponent field goal percentage ranks fourth in the NSIC and their 32.7% opponent three-point percentage ranks fifth. That effort has been aided by their 3.44 blocks per game, good for fourth in the league, while their 71.9 points per game allowed ranked eighth.
 
UMC has featured a balanced offensive attack with four players averaging double figures in scoring. Ethan Channel has paced the squad with 12.6 points per game while Leonard Dixon has chipped in 12.3 points and a team-best 6.8 boards per game. Dixon also ranks seventh in the NSIC with 2.3 threes made per game. Brian Sitzmann registers in with 10.2 points per game while Uzo Dibiamaka has contributed 10.0 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
 
BSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears enter the weekend with a nearly even record against the Beavers as CSP has gone 16-19 in the previous 35 meetings. Concordia has turned the momentum in their favor since 2005 as they have won 15 of the last 24 meetings since then. CSP had a four-game winning streak in the series snapped in 2017-18 with BSU winning the last five meetings. Both teams have found success on their home court as Concordia has gone 11-6 in St. Paul while the Beavers have gone 13-5 in Bemidji.
 
LAST MEETING VS BSU
Back on Nov. 16, CSP ran into a hot shooting Bemidji State as they fell 82-67 on the road in non-conference action.
 
The Beavers controlled play down low as they used a 56-32 advantage in points in the paint, a 44-27 advantage on the glass and a 19-7 advantage in second chance points in the win. They connected on 54.0% (34-63) from the floor, including a solid 57.1% (16-28) after the break as they kept the Golden Bears at bay throughout the night. The Golden Bears dropped to 16-19 in the all-time series as BSU improved to 12-6 on their home court.
 
The Golden Bears did win the battle in points off turnovers at 19-15 while also outscoring the Beavers off the bench at 20-19, but it wasn't enough to put the team on top.
 
Marcus Skeete provided an efficient stat line for CSP as he hit 6-9 from the floor to finish with a team-best 14 points in 25 minutes of action. Skeete added five rebounds with a pair of steals and a pair of assists. Elijah Ormiston flirted with a double-double on the night as he contributed 11 points, eight boards, three assists, two steals and a block.
 
Ian Sluice hit all three of his shots, including a pair of threes, to finish with eight points in eight minutes while Jack Stensgard collected seven points, five rebounds and five assists on 3-5 shooting.
 
ABOUT THE BEAVERS
Bemidji State opened the season with three wins in the first four games of the year, but have gone 3-7 since that point. Two of BSU's NSIC wins have come on the road as they grabbed wins over St. Cloud State and UMary away from home. Their last victory came in their first contest of 2022 as they rolled to a 70-46 win over Minnesota Crookston on Jan. 2.
 
The Beavers have been a top-five team in the NSIC in efficiency on both sides of the ball as their 48.7% field goal percentage and 43.0% opponent field goal percentage both rank fifth. They've been even better from beyond the arc as their mark of 37.6% and their opponent mark of 31.8% both rank fourth. BSU also ranks fifth with 14.5 assists per game.
 
Travis Bianco has been the top producer for the Beavers this season as he ranks 14^th in scoring (15.9) and 23^rd in rebounding (5.9) while his 49.1% field goal percentage ranks 13^th and his 2.1 threes made per game ranks 14^th. Mohamed Kone has been the team's leading distributor with 4.5 assists per game while his 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks 11^th and his 1.4 steals per game ranks 12^th.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears have had three different players that rank near the top of the league in different statistical categories.
 
Elijah Ormiston recent surge has moved him to 18^th in the league in points per game at 15.1 while he also sits in ninth in field goal percentage at 52.1%, 11th in rebounds per game at 6.9 and 18th in free throw percentage at 66.7%. Marcus Skeete has been a versatile player for CSP as he ranks 10th in the NSIC in field goal percentage (50.0%), 21st in rebounds per game (5.9), 16th in assist per game (3.3) and 19th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.1). Jack Stensgard ranks 21st in assists per game (2.8) and 22nd in blocks per game (0.7).
 
As a team, the Golden Bears have defended the arc well as their 95 made threes allowed is the third fewest in the conference while their 7.9 made threes per game rank seventh. CSP also ranks sixth in assists per game at 14.38 and eighth in blocks per game at 2.8.