tINONA, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (3-2, 0-1 NSIC) led for much of the opening half before seeing Winona State (4-0, 1-0 NSIC) take the lead for good in the latter stages of the second half in a 75-69 loss at McCown Gymnasium on Tuesday night in the NSIC opener.
 
The Golden Bears put themselves in a good position to claim just their eighth win in 62 meetings, but the Warriors tallied a timely 13-4 run to drop CSP to 7-55 in the all-time series and 5-30 in Winona.
 
In a game where very little separated the two teams, Winona State claimed the decisive edge at the free throw line as they knocked down 14 of their 20 attempts (70.5%) while CSP got to the line just eight times, hitting five of their attempts (62.5%). Concordia did manage a 15-9 edge in bench scoring as well as a 36-33 advantage on the glass and a 34-32 advantage in points in the paint in the loss.
 
Jordan Horn was the focal point of the Golden Bear offense as he scored 20 of his team-high 26 points in the first half. He connected on 10-20 from the floor and 6-12 from beyond the arc while adding three assists and two boards on the night.
 
Marcus Skeete tallied his second double-double in the past three games as he contributed 12 points along with a game-best 12 rebounds in the loss. He added four assists and two steals in a full stat line.
 
Sean Mathieu nearly joined the pair in double figures as he scored nine points and chipped in four rebounds and two assists in his first start of the year. Ben Kopetzki led the way off the bench with seven points while DJ Akpati knocked down 2-4 from three-point range to add six points.
 
Connor Drew and Connor Dillon each cleared 20 points for the Warriors as Drew hit 6-8 from deep and scored a game-high 27 points while Dillon scored 21 and dished out six assists.
 
Horn came out firing in the opening minutes of the game as he scored the first five points and eight of the first 11 in the contest to help CSP build an early 10-3 advantage. The Golden Bears continued to maintain a lead of a few possessions over the next few minutes, eventually growing it to eight at 24-16 and again at 29-21 with 8:36 left on the clock in the half, before the Warriors started to claw their way back. WSU scored the next five points to trim it to three before stringing together an 8-0 run to take their first lead of the night at 38-35 with 2:30 to go before the break. Concordia finished the half strong, however, as they nailed back-to-back threes in the final minute of the half to regain the lead at 46-45.
 
The lead change right before the horn to end the first half proved to be the first of eight in a 12-minute span until a 13-4 run turned a 58-57 CSP lead with 9:00 to play into a 70-62 edge for WSU with 3:39 left on the clock. The Golden Bears managed to trim it back to a one-possession game at 72-69 in the final minute, but Winona State took care of business at the free throw line as they sealed the 75-69 win.
 
Concordia returns home over the weekend as they host the CSP Thanksgiving Classic at Gangelhoff Center. Southwest Minnesota State and Upper Iowa get things underway with a 4 p.m. tip-off on Saturday before CSP takes on Truman State at 6 p.m. On Sunday, SMSU and TSU open the day with a 2 p.m. meeting, followed by a 4 p.m. start between Concordia and Upper Iowa to close out the weekend.