SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-9, 1-6 NSIC) ran into a hot shooting Sioux Falls squad (10-3, 5-2 NSIC) as they fell 100-66 at Stewart Center on Saturday night.
The Cougars shot a sizzling 60.6% (20-33) from the floor and 56.3% (9-16) from three-point range in the first half to drop the Golden Bears to 6-22 in the all-time series and 2-11 in Sioux Falls.
For the game, USF connected on 53.1% (34-64) shooting and 48.6% (17-35) from deep while CSP finished at 42.0% (21-50) and 26.3% (5-19), respectively. While the two teams each tallied 28 points in the paint, the Cougars utilized a 13-0 edge in second chance points and a 41-19 edge in bench scoring to supplement their advantage from beyond the arc in the win.
Concordia once again relied on the leading duo to carry the offense as
Antwan Kimmons and
Marcus Skeete combined for 38 of the team's 66 points. Kimmons put up 20 points on 6-10 shooting and 8-11 from the free throw line to go along with three boards and two assists while Skeete contributed 18 points on 5-7 from the floor and 7-8 from the line to go along with three rebounds and two steals.
Cal Greene chipped in six points and a team-best six rebounds while
Ian Sluice and
Sunday John had six points apiece as well.
Sean Mathieu followed with five points, three assists, two steals and a block.
Matt Cartwright couldn't miss for the Cougars as he led all players with 33 points on 12-14 shooting and 7-8 from deep on the night while Noah Puetz wasn't far behind efficicency-wise with 19 points on 8-11 shooting and 3-4 from beyond the arc.
Sioux Falls came out firing from the start as they scored 10 of the game's first 12 points before extending it to double figures at 14-4 just over four minutes in. CSP remained within 10 at 21-11 at the 11:08 mark before another 10-2 run ballooned the deficit to 31-13 two minutes later. The Golden Bears answered with the next eight points in a row before the Cougars matched their largest lead of the half at 51-33 heading to the locker room.
Cartwright extended the lead with back-to-back threes, his sixth and seventh of the night, to start the second half as Sioux Falls put it out of reach from there. The lead reached 30 at 72-41 and hovered in that range for the rest of the night before USF finished off the 100-66 win.
It's a quick turnaround as the Golden Bears will look to bounce back on Monday night in non-conference play as they take on Lincoln in a neutral site contest played at Concordia-Nebraska in Seward, Neb. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
