MARSHALL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-21, 2-15 NSIC) picked up a dramatic last second victory as Marcus Skeete buried a jumper with 2.0 seconds to play to give the Golden Bears a 61-60 win at Southwest Minnesota State (12-9, 8-8 NSIC) on Saturday night.
 
CSP head coach Matt Fletcher, SMSU's career record holder in three-pointers made, picked up a win in his first trip back to his old stomping grounds as the Golden Bears' head coach as he helped Concordia improve to 14-31 in the all-time series and 5-18 in Marshall.
 
Concordia cleared 50.0% shooting for the third time this season as they finished the night at 51.1% (24-47) from the floor and 39.1% (9-23) from three-point range. The Mustangs were even more efficient from the floor at 53.1% (26-49), but they didn't match CSP's success from beyond the arc as they hit just 23.5% (4-17) of their attempts. The Golden Bears added an 11-7 edge in bench scoring in the win.
 
The big three of Skeete, Jacob Everson and Elijah Ormiston combined for 45 of the team's 61 points in the win as Skeete led all scorers with 18 points on 8-14 shooting. Skeete added four assists and two rebounds in the win. Everson was nearly perfect from the floor as he connected on 6-8 shooting and 3-4 from deep to finish with 15 points. Ormiston chipped in 12 points, seven boards, two assists and two steals on the night.
 
Four different Mustangs reached double figures as Dunwa Omot paced the squad with 14 points. Grant Kramer narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
 
It was a game of runs in the opening half as the lead changed hands eight times before the break. SMSU delivered the first blow as an early 10-0 run gave them a 10-2 lead before CSP responded with nine in a row and 16 of 20 to build an 18-14 edge with 11:37 left in the half. With the lead still at four at 23-19, the Mustangs rattled off three straight buckets to retake the lead at 25-23 with 4:33 to go. That proved to be their final buckets of the half as Concordia closed it out on an 8-0 run to take a 31-25 lead into the locker room.
 
That run carried over into the second half as Ormiston buried an early three to give the Golden Bears their largest lead of the night at 34-25. That lead quickly evaporated, however, as Southwest Minnesota State tied it with nine straight points before taking a 41-37 lead at the 13:50 mark with a 16-3 run. An Ian Sluice three and a Reid Patterson bucket put CSP temporarily back in front, but the Mustangs seemingly took control of the game with an 11-3 burst to build a 52-45 advantage with 8:01 left on the clock.
 
In what has become a trend in recent weeks, Concordia displayed their resilience as they clawed their way back into the contest. A 12-4 run over the next five and a half minutes put the Golden Bears back in front at 57-56 before back-to-back Byers baskets set the stage for a dramatic final minute of play.
 
Trailing 60-57 with 1:20 left on the clock, Everson trimmed the deficit to a point with a layup with 52 seconds to play. CSP got a much needed stop as they forced a shot clock violation to give themselves a chance to win it in regulation. Skeete did just that as he drained a contested turnaround fadeaway jumper from the free throw line with 2.0 seconds to go to win for the Golden Bears.
 
The Golden Bears are headed to the final stretch of the regular season as they return home to host Augustana on Friday and Wayne State on Saturday before closing it out with a split weekend at Winona State on Feb. 17 and at home against Upper Iowa on Feb. 19.