SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (2-21, 1-15 NSIC) nearly erased a 16 point deficit in the second half as they saw a potential game-winning attempt from half court rim out in a 66-64 loss at Sioux Falls (11-9, 7-7 NSIC) on Friday night.
Trailing by 16 points with 13 minutes to go in the game, the Golden Bears put the clamps on the Cougars on the defensive end to give themselves a pair of chances to tie or take the lead in the final 20 seconds action, but the Cougars held on to make it 10 straight wins in the series and 21 wins in 27 all-time meetings.
After seeing the Cougars connect on 46.7% (14-30) from the floor in the first half, the Golden Bears made life tough for USF's shooters in the second half, holding them to just 30.3% (10-33) in the final 20 minutes, including a mark of just 29.4% (5-17) from deep. On the flip side, CSP improved on a 42.9% (12-28) mark before the break to shoot 51.9% (14-27) from the floor and 50.0% (5-10) from three-point range in the second half. Concordia aided their effort with a 28-18 edge in points in the paint.
Freshman
Elijah Ormiston played a big role in the advantage down low as he set a new career high with 30 points on 12-18 shooting and 4-5 from three-point range to go along with nine boards. Ormiston became the second Golden Bear to reach the 30-point plateau this season, joining
Marcus Skeete, who scored 33 at Regis on Nov. 26. Ormiston made it 11 games with 20+ points this season, including nine in 16 conference contests.
Jacob Everson added nine points on 3-6 shooting while
Caden Hoffman had six points on 2-4 from three-point range to go along with three assists and three boards.
Marcus Skeete chipped in four points, eight rebounds and four assists on the night.
Matt Cartwright led a balanced USF attack with 15 points while Jack Thompson and Noah Puetz had a dozen points apiece. Thompson added seven boards, four assists and four steals while Austin Slater led all players with 11 rebounds.
Concordia grabbed the first four points of the night, but the Cougars quickly took control with the next nine points to build a 9-4 edge at the first media timeout. CSP responded with a 6-0 run to regain the lead, but an extended 20-8 run capped by seven straight gave Sioux Falls a double-digit edge at 29-18. The Golden Bears rebounded over the final few minutes of the half as Ormiston scored the final six points of the half for CSP to pull them within five at 34-29 before a Jack Thompson three pushed it back to eight at 37-29 at the break for USF.
CSP pulled even closer early in the second as back-to-back buckets for Everson and Ormiston trimmed it to four at 37-33. The deficit remained at 6 nearly five minutes into the half before a 10-0 burst gave the Cougars their largest lead of the night at 55-39 with 13:08 to play.
Concordia put together an impressive comeback push from there, starting with a huge 17-5 run spanning eight minutes to close the gap to four at 60-56 with 5:06 to play. During that stretch, CSP connected on seven of their 10 attempts from the floor while limiting the Cougars to just 2-12. Noah Puetz scored the next three points for the Cougars before an Ormiston free throw and a Stensgard layup had it back down to four. After a scoreless minute and a half, Chase Grinde extended the lead to six at 65-59 with 1:14 to play, but Ormiston answered with his final bucket of the night, a clutch three, to make it a one possession game. The Golden Bears got the stop they were looking for before Stensgard got to the rim to put home a layup to cut it to a point. Jack Thompson knocked down 1-2 at the line to give CSP a chance to tie or take the lead, but an Everson turnaround jumper with five seconds to go went halfway down before spinning out. A missed free throw on the front end of a one-and-one gave Concordia another chance, but Everson's half court heave was just off-target as the Cougars held on.
The Golden Bears are back in action tomorrow night as they take on Southwest Minnesota State at 5:30 p.m. in Marshall.
