ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-23, 2-17 NSIC) saw a halftime lead disappear as they fell to Wayne State (13-10, 10-7 NSIC) 80-64 on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
Another solid shooting performance in the opening half gave the Golden Bears a 41-40 lead at the break, but the Wildcats turned the tables after the break as they held CSP to just 23 points in the game's final 20 minutes to drop Concordia to 19-28 in the all-time series as WSC grabbed their 11^th win in the past 12.
 
It was a tale of two halves on the offensive end for Concordia as they knocked down 48.5% (16-33) from the floor and 7-16 (43.8%) from beyond the arc in the first half before dropping to 33.3% (9-27) overall and 20.0% (2-10) from deep after halftime.
 
On the other end, CSP's defense limited Wayne State to just 43.7% (31-71) on the night, but the Wildcats used a big 46-29 rebounding edge, including a 16-5 edge on the offensive glass, to aid their effort. That edge led to a 21-0 advantage in second chance points for WSC.
 
Concordia had three different players score 14 points in the game as Jacob Everson, Jack Stensgard and Elijah Ormiston all reached that mark. Everson was an efficient 6-8 shooting and 2-2 from three-point range while pulling down a team-best six rebounds to go along with three assists. Stensgard was nearly as efficient as he connected on 5-7 overall and 2-3 from deep while also picking up three boards and three steals. George Scharlau chipped in eight points, three rebounds and two assists off the bench.
 
The trio of Justin Eagins, Nate Mohr and Ben Dentlinger carried the load for Wayne State in the victory. Eagins finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists while Mohr had 15 points, seven assists and three boards, and Dentlinger had 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
 
The Wildcats delivered the first blow in the contest as they opened on a 10-0 run over the first two and a half minutes of play, but the Golden Bears battled back from there. CSP scored 11 of the next 15 points to trim it to a one possession game before an 8-0 run turned a 29-23 deficit into a 31-29 lead later in the half with 5:19 to go. WSC regained the lead with back-to-back buckets before a 6-0 run gave Concordia their largest lead of the night at 39-35. With 1:34 left on the clock. Wayne State scored five of the last seven before the horn to trim it to 41-40 after 20 minutes.
 
After being fouled on a three to open the second half, Caden Hoffman knocked down two of three to push it back to three at 43-40, but that proved to be the final lead of the night for the Golden Bears. A 15-3 run over the next seven minutes gave the Wildcats a nine point cushion at 55-46. The lead reached double figures at 61-51 before a 7-0 run capped by a three and a layup for Ormiston pulled CSP to within three at 61-58 with 9:20 to go. That would be all the closer they would get as Wayne State put it out of reach with a 17-2 burst to give them their largest lead of the night at 18. A couple late buckets for Stensgard and Everson brought the final margin to 80-64.
 
Concordia closes out the season next weekend as they travel to Winona State on Thursday night before hosting #19 Upper Iowa on Senior Night on Saturday night.