BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-14, 1-10 NSIC) could not dig themselves out of an early hole as they fell 88-71 at Bemidji State (11-6, 6-5 NSIC) on Friday night.
After falling behind the Beavers 24-6 midway through the first quarter, the Golden Bears outscored BSU 65-64 over the final 30 minutes as the deficit proved to be too much to overcome. Bemidji State made it five wins in the last seven meetings as CSP fell to 18-20 in the all-time series.
The Beavers couldn't miss before the break as they connected on a staggering 78.3% (18-23) in the opening 20 minutes before finishing the game at 67.4% (29-43) overall and 60.0% (12-20) from three-point range. CSP finished at 43.6% (24-55) from the floor on the night as they attempted 12 more shots than BSU, aided by an 8-4 edge on the offensive glass and an 18-11 edge in turnovers forced. Concordia added a hefty 26-4 advantage in fastbreak points in the loss.
Junior guard
Antwan Kimmons made it four straight games with 20+ points as he led all players with 24 points on 8-13 shooting and 8-9 from the free throw line. He added six boards and three assists on the night.
Marcus Skeete and
John Grigsby joined Kimmons in double figures as Skeete added 18 points and six rebounds while Grigsby had 11 points on 3-6 from beyond the arc off the bench.
Sean Mathieu added eight points as CSP held a 22-17 edge in bench scoring.
Mohamed Kone led the way for Bemidji State with 22 points on 8-11 from the floor while Brayden Williams was a perfect 6-6 shooting and 4-4 from deep to add 18 points in the win.
The Beavers came out firing with three early three-pointers to score the first nine points of the night before ballooned it out to 17 at 21-4 seven and a half minutes in. It eventually reached 18 at 24-6 at the midway point of the half before the Golden Bears started to settle in. CSP rattled off 10 of the next 12 points, capped off by a pair of Grigsby threes, to trim it down to 10 at 26-16 with 7:42 to go before half. Concordia further closed the gap to single digits at the 3:11 mark as they used an 8-1 run to cut it to 32-24. The deficit remained at eight at 41-33 in the final minute of the half before a last second three-pointer made it 44-33 heading to the locker room.
An early 11-5 run in the second half further closed the gap to seven at 51-44 with 15:08 left on the clock, but that would be all the closer Concordia would get as a 7-0 run the other way pushed it to double figures for good. The BSU lead grew to as many as 20 down the stretch before a late Mathieu three brought it to a final score of 88-71.
Concordia will look to bounce back tomorrow night as they take on Minnesota Crookston at 5:30 p.m.
