ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (2-4) closed out the contest strong as they claimed a 70-53 victory over Northland (1-6) in non-conference play on Sunday afternoon at Gangelhoff Center.
For the third time in the past five seasons, the Golden Bears started off their home slate with back-to-back victories at Gangelhoff Center. CSP also improved to 18-29 all-time against NC as they won their sixth of the last seven in the series.
With the score tied at 41-41 with just over 12 minutes to play, Concordia surged to the finish line as they used a 29-12 run the rest of the way to seal the win.
The Golden Bears dominated down low with a 34-16 edge in points in the paint as well as a 17-2 edge in second chance points aided by a 50-36 advantage on the glass. CSP also took advantage of their depth with a 26-13 advantage in bench scoring while also registering a 15-5 advantage in fast break points and an 18-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
Marcus Skeete filled the stat sheet with his sixth career double-double and third career 20-10 effort, finishing with 22 points and 11 rebounds to go along with three steals and two assists. He connected on 8-13 shooting and 6-6 from the line in the win.
Antwan Kimmons joined him in double figures with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists as he connected on 5-8 from the floor while
Cal Greene gave solid minutes off the bench with six points and a game-high nine boards and three blocks.
Ian Sluice knocked down three from beyond the arc for nine points while
Roy Grigsby pulled down eight rebounds.
Jordan Brennan led Northland with 12 points while Simon Palmer and Adam Billingsly chipped in 10 points apiece in the loss.
Over the first eight minutes of the contest, there were three ties and three lead changes as the two teams jostled for the lead. Trailing 12-10 with 12:05 in the clock, Sluice and Mathieu hit back-to-back threes to put the Golden Bears in front at 16-12. Northland regained the lead at 18-16 before CSP rattled off a 14-4 run, sparked by Skeete and Perry, to build their largest lead of the half at 30-22. That lead remained at six at the break at Concordia took a 32-26 lead into the locker room.
The CSP advantage was back out to eight early in the second half at 38-30, but an 11-3 run in favor of the Lumberjacks over the next six minutes evened the score back up at 41-41 with 12:08 to go. That proved to be short-lived, however, as the Golden Bears responded with nine points in a row to extend the lead all the way out to nine at 50-41 just past the midway point of the half. Concordia pushed it to double figures a couple minutes later at 53-43 before maintaining a three-possession lead or more for the rest of the afternoon.
The Golden Bears return to NSIC play this week as they travel to Upper Iowa on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. before hosting Winona State on Saturday at 3 p.m.
