ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (4-16, 2-12 NSIC) returns home to Gangelhoff Center this weekend with Minot State (9-9, 6-8 NSIC) and the University of Mary (9-9, 5-9 NSIC) coming to town. CSP will host MiSU on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and UMary on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
 
IT'S A SLAM DUNK, DON'T DRIVE DRUNK
This weekend's games will be centered around the Northern Sun's "It's a Slam Dunk, Don't Drive Drunk" campaign in which all spectators will be encouraged to pledge not to drive drunk.
 
MEN'S GOLF NSIC CHAMPIONSHIP RING CEREMONY
On Saturday night during halftime of the women's game, the Concordia Golden Bears men's golf team will be honored after claiming their first ever NSIC Championship last spring. Student-athletes and coaches will be awarded championship rings during a brief on-court ceremony.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, CSP fell to MSU Moorhead 90-64 on Friday before seeing a comeback bid fall short in a 75-67 loss at Northern State on Saturday.
 
On Friday, Antwan Kimmons was one of three Golden Bears in double figures scoring as he led the squad with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. He was joined by Ian Sluice and Sean Mathieu, who each contributed 11 points, as Sluice hit three of four from deep and added three boards on the night. Jared Perry added eight points off the bench as he connected on all four of his shot attempts.
 
Trailing by 20 with under 10 minutes to play on Saturday, the Golden Bears rattled off a 19-5 run to trim the deficit to six in the final two minutes of the contest, but their comeback bid ran out of steam as the Wolves held on.
 
Antwan Kimmons put up a massive performance as he matched a game-best with 25 points on 10-18 shooting while pulling down a DII program-record 16 rebounds to go along with three assists. His 16 boards broke the previous record of 15, set by five different players, most recently on Nov. 11, 2018 by Bryndan Matthews. His 25 point effort was also his seventh with 25+ on the season.
 
Kimmons was joined in double figures in scoring by Jacob Everson, who added 15 points on 6-13 shooting with two rebounds, two assists and two steals. Marcus Skeete chipped in nine points and four boards while John Grigsby added seven points.
 
MINOT STATE SERIES HISTORY
Concordia and Minot State have met just nine previous times with the Golden Bears going 2-7 in those meetings. After the two teams split the first two meetings, the Beavers rattled off five straight wins and six of the last seven. While CSP has yet to register a win in five trips to Minot, the Golden Bears have gone 2-2 on their home court against MiSU.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE BEAVERS
In the Jan. 22, 2022 meeting, Concordia ran into a hot-shooting Minot State in a 98-54 loss on the road.
 
The Beavers buried 59.1% (39-66) of their shots on the night, including 59 points on a 61.8% (21-34) shooting after the break.
 
Marcus Skeete led the way for the Golden Bears on the night as he matched Minot State's Melvin Newbern with a game-high 20 points on 5-8 shooting, 3-4 from deep and 7-8 from the free throw line. Skeete chipped in eight boards, three steals and two assists in his 27 minutes of work.
 
Reid Patterson added seven points while Jacob Everson had six points.
 
UMARY SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears take a 15-9 record against the Marauders into this weekend's matchup between the two schools. While Concordia has put up a solid 7-4 record on their home court against U-Mary, they have been even better in Bismarck with eight wins in 11 trips there. CSP has been especially successful in the recent history of the series with the Golden Bears claiming wins in nine of the last 12 meetings.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE MARAUDERS
Back on Jan. 21, 2022, CSP came up short in the closing seconds of a 68-6 loss to the University of Mary.
 
The Golden Bears led for nearly three quarters of the contest and only trailed for 16 percent of the game, leading by as many as 14 points in the first half and carried an eight-point lead with under 10 minutes to play.
 
The Marauders chipped away at CSP's lead down the stretch with an 11-0 run while holding Concordia scoreless for over seven minutes of play, taking a 59-56 lead on Kam Warrens' dunk with 4:37 to go.
 
From there, the Golden Bears rallied back, as Jacob Everson connected on a three-pointer to snap the drought and tie the game at 59 with just over four minutes to play, and Ormiston scored in the the lane on an Everson feed to go back on top.
 
After the Marauders tied it back up, Everson scored in the lane again with Marcus Skeete picking up his sixth assist for a 63-61 lead with 2:45 to go. Everson finished with 10 points.
 
Once again, the Marauders answered, with Lucas Meyer scoring his second-straight game-tying bucket in the lane 22 seconds later.
 
After a scoreless minute with each team picking up a defensive stop, Jack Stensgard launched a go-head three-pointer with 1:20 to go, giving Concordia the upper hand late.
 
Stensgaard finished with 11 points on the night, assisted on the play by Everson, his third of the game.
 
But once again, UMary had the answer, forcing another tie as Treyton Mattern connected for a three-pointer with just under a minute to go, his first made basket of the game.
 
After Concordia committed a turnover on its ensuing possession, the Golden Bears forced the miss by UMary at the rim with under 10 seconds to play, but Mayer cleaned it up with a tip-in with four seconds left and the 68-66 lead.
 
STAT LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears have a few players that rank near the top of the league in several different categories.
 
Junior guard Antwan Kimmons has been a big-time contributor in his first season in navy and gold as he ranks second in the league and 21st in the nation in scoring with 21.0 points per game. His 114 made free throws and 150 free throw attempts both lead the NSIC and both sit fourth in the nation. His 4.2 assists per game rank seventh and his 54.0% field goal percentage ranks sixth in the conference.
 
Sophomore Marcus Skeete has added 5.0 defensive rebounds per game and 119 total rebounds, good for 10th and 13th in the NSIC, respectively.
 
As a team, CSP ranks in the top half of the league in several areas as their 13.1 turnovers forced per game rank second in the league and their 45.3% field goal percentage ranks seventh. Their 12.4 free throws made per game also rank eighth.