ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (1-16, 0-10 NSIC) was unable to hang onto a second half advantage as they fell to Minnesota Crookston (5-12, 2-9 NSIC) on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
The Golden Bears led by as many as seven points with 11:10 on the clock and maintained a one-point edge with just over a minute to play, but the Golden Eagles finished on an 11-3 run to pick up just their ninth win in 34 meetings between the two schools. CSP dropped to 13-3 on their home court against UMC as Minnesota Crookston picked up their first win in St. Paul since 2007.
After an offensive outburst in which the Golden Bears shot 53.3% (16-30) and the Golden Eagles shot 51.9% (14-27) before the break, defense shined in the second half as CSP held UMC to 30.3% (10-33) in the final 20 minutes while shooting just 40.7% (11-27) on the offensive end. Minnesota Crookston gained the decisive edge at the free throw line by knocking down 22 of 28 attempts (78.6%) compared to 10 of 14 (71.4%) for Concordia.
Elijah Ormiston put up the most efficient stat line of his young career as he hit 10-11 from the floor to lead all players with 23 points on the night. His 90.9% shooting percentage was fifth-best in the DII-era at Concordia, and best with at least 11 attempts. Overall, it's the best mark since Nuni Omot knocked down all eight of his shot attempts on Dec. 20, 2014. The freshman surpassed 20 points for the fourth straight game and seventh time of the season to push his season average to 15.6 points per game.
Marcus Skeete tallied his fifth career double-double, and second of the season, as he finished the night with 18 points, 12 rebounds and three assists.
Jack Stensgard added 11 points, six boards and five assists while
George Scharlau added 11 points and three rebounds while knocking down 3-4 from deep.
Four of Minnesota Crookston's five starters reached double figures, led by Uzo Dibiamaka and Brian Sitzmann's 15 points apiece.
It was Minnesota Crookston that made the early run in the game with nine of the first 11 points before growing their advantage to as many as a dozen at 23-11 with 11:22 to go in the half. That lead remained in double figures as late as 32-22 just over three minutes later before a massive 23-7 burst late in the half gave the Golden Bears a six point edge. A UMC bucket before the horn trimmed it to 45-41 heading to the locker room.
The Golden Eagles battled back in front early in the second half as they scored six straight to take a 53-52 lead, but an 8-0 run for the Golden Bears a few minutes later gave them their largest lead of the night at 63-56 with 11:10 to play. The lead quickly shifted back the other way as Minnesota Crookston followed with eight in a row to regain the lead at 64-63. That was the first of four lead changes over the next few minutes before Ormiston scored back-to-back buckets to put Concordia in front 69-66 with 4:29 left in the game. Both teams went the next three minutes without scoring before a 6-0 UMC gave them a 72-69 edge with 36 seconds to play. Minnesota Crookston managed to close it out at the line as they sealed a 77-72 win.
Concordia will look to get into the win column tomorrow afternoon as they host Bemidji State at 3:30 p.m. on Cancer Awareness Night.
