ST. PAUL, Minn. – Despite overcoming a double-digit deficit in the second half, the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (2-6) fell to the Winona State Warriors (6-2) 66-63 in its Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference home opener at the Gangelhoff Center on Saturday afternoon. 

The Golden Bears kept pace early in the game, tying the game at nine each just over five minutes in. The Warriors controlled the game in the following minutes, going on an 11-3 scoring run to give themselves a 20-12 lead at the midpoint of the first half. Concordia fought back to cut the deficit to just one with 5:56 remaining in the half, but a late run by the Warriors saw them take a 42-33 lead into the locker room.

Faced with a nine-point deficit coming out of halftime that would soon extend to a 10-point deficit, Concordia roared back with a 13-4 run that made it a one-point game at 50-49 with just over nine minutes to play. The Golden Bears continued to hang around in the following minutes, tying the game for the first time since the opening minutes at 56-56 with 5:23 on the clock. 

Two Warrior layups and a made free throw would put Winona State back on top by five with 3:41 to play, but the Golden Bears would not go down easily as they continued to fight with a free throw by sophomore guard Marcus Skeete and a three-pointer from sophomore guard Jacob Everson that would cut the deficit back to one just over a minute later. 

After hitting a jumper to extend their lead back to three, the Warriors were called for a technical foul that gave Everson a chance at the charity stripe as he hit a free throw to make it 63-61 in favor of Winona. 

A trio of made free throws for the Warriors extended their lead to five with under a minute to play, but Concordia stepped up once again as Everson hit another jumper and the Golden Bears forced a turnover on the subsequent inbound pass to give themselves the ball while down by three with just 38 seconds remaining. The Bears took three shots and grabbed two offensive boards on their final possession, but none of the shots fell as the Warriors hung on for the three-point win. 

The Golden Bears were the more efficient team shooting the ball, knocking down 20 of their 43 shots (46.5%) compared to Winona's 23-52 (44.2%) performance. 
Everson stepped up big in the second half and tied his career high with 21 points on an efficient 6-10 shooting performance, with 19 of his 21 points coming after halftime. He also tied for the team lead with five rebounds. Skeete matched him with 21 points on 7-15 shooting from the floor, including 4-9 from beyond the arc, and added four rebounds and three assists. 

Sunday John scored a season-high six points off the bench while Sean Mathieu was just behind him with five. Antwan Kimmons and Jared Perry each tied with a team-leading five rebounds while adding three and two points, respectively. 

The Golden Bears will be back in action on Friday when they host Wayne State for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at the Gangelhoff Center.