ST. PAUL, Minn. – Senior guard Antwan Kimmons scored a go-ahead bucket with 54 seconds to play to give the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-2) a 77-76 win over Bemidji State (2-1) in non-conference play at Gangelhoff Center on Tuesday night.
 
Kimmons scored six of his team-high 21 points in the final 2:13 of play as he knocked down a pair of free throws before getting to the rim to give CSP a 75-74 lead with 1:16 left and again at 77-76 with 0:54 to seal the team's first victory of the season. He finished at 9-18 from the floor to go along with six assists and six boards as well as two steals on the night.
 
The Golden Bears made it two straight wins against the Beavers as they pulled within a game of .500 at 18-19 in the all-time series with BSU, improving to 13-6 on their home court.
 
Marcus Skeete and Jacob Everson gave the Golden Bears three starters in double figures as Skeete finished with 19 points and Everson had 12. Skeete connected on and efficient 7-9 shooting and 3-4 from the floor while pulling down a team-best seven boards and dishing out three assists while Everson was even more efficient at 5-6 shooting and 2-3 from deep.
 
Caden Hoffman was the top producer off the bench as he scored eight points on 3-5 from the floor while Ian Sluice hit 2-3 from beyond the arc to finish with six points.
 
Offensive efficiency coupled with taking advantage of BSU turnovers proved to be the difference as CSP hit 52.6% (30-57) from the floor and 42.9% (9-21) from three-point range while they turned 19 Bemidji State turnovers into 31 points. Concordia also held the Beavers to 44.6% shooting (29-65) and 26.1% (6-23) from deep.
 
Bemidji State's big man duo of John Sutherland and Dalton Albrecht led the way for the visitors as Sutherland scored 21 of his game-high 23 points before the break and Dalton Albrecht added 17 points in the loss.
 
The two teams jostled for the lead early in the contest as the opening 10 minutes of the night featured two ties and three lead changes before an 8-0 run in favor of BSU put the Beavers in front 23-17 with 8:10 to go in the first half. That lead reached as many as eight before the break at 38-30 and 40-32 before a John Grigsby pull up jumper cut it to 40-34 heading to the locker room.
 
Concordia wasted little time flipping the momentum in their favor in the second half as they held BSU off the scoreboard for the first 5:21 while rattling off a 14-0 run to take a 48-40 lead. That lead proved to be short-lived, however, as Bemidji State followed with a 12-1 run over the next three minutes to regain the lead at 52-49 with 11:50 to go. The Beavers appeared to be pulling away as they extended it to 62-55 with 8:04 left, but CSP fought back with seven in a row to tie it back up.
 
Following a pair of BSU free throws, Everson and Sluice knocked down back-to-back threes to put CSP in front 68-64 with under four to play before six straight the other way swung the pendulum back in the Beavers' favor. With Bemidji State up a pair at 72-70 with 2:16 to go, that set the stage for Kimmons to finish it off strong for the Golden Bears.
 
CSP is back on the road this weekend as they travel to Northern Michigan for a 6 p.m. tip-off on Friday night.