ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul (7-5, 2-4 NSIC) dropped its final home game of the 2023 calendar year 92-69 to #21 Minnesota Duluth (9-2, 4-1 NSIC) on Thursday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears will see one more contest before the holiday break, heading to Mankato, Minnesota on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matinee against #3 Minnesota State.
 
In tonight's game, CSP and UMD were efficient offensively in the game's opening minutes, as CSP won the tip and immediately went inside for a Jappanah Kellogg slam on a feed from Antwan Kimmons. A driving layup by Marcus Skeete three and a half minutes into play made it a 9-7 UMD lead.
 
Kellogg finished with 10 points on 4-8 shooting, adding five rebounds (three offensive), a pair of assists and a pair of blocks in a strong 29 minutes. Skeete led CSP with 13 points on 5-8 shooting including hitting his only three-pointer of the night to go along with three rebounds and three assists, and Kimmons had six assists.
 
But the Bulldog offense never slowed, opening up a 23-9 lead following a 14-2 scoring run spanning just over five minutes of play. They added a 14-0 run to claim a 25-point lead with 6:18 to play in the half, taking it from 23-12 to 37-12 as part of an overall 28-5 run covering over 10 minutes of the half.
 
While the Bulldogs took a 48-28 lead into the break, Concordia would claw back early in the second half, with Skeete and Sean Mathieu connecting on back-to-back three-pointers to trim the margin to 14, 53-39. A three-pointer by Ian Sluice four minutes later made it a 13-point game, 61-48, with 12:17 remaining.
 
The Golden Bears had a solid showing from the arc, hitting nine three-pointers at a 39.1 percent clip (9-23), out-shooting UMD from deep as the Bulldogs were 6-16 (37.5%).
 
But the Bulldogs did their damage inside, and with volume, doubling up Concordia 56-28 in the paint and using a 16-7 edge on the offensive glass to the tune of a 16-3 scoring margin in second chance points. On the night, UMD out-rebounded Concordia 46-30, and with 56 points in the paint, held a 50.7 percent field goal percentage (35-69) as CSP shot 42.4 percent overall (25-59).
 
The Bulldogs also heavily capitalized on turnovers, as a 15-9 turnover margin turned into a 23-5 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
With Concordia trailing 64-50, a 14-point margin with just over 10 minutes to play, UMD stepped on the gas, and would eventually lead by 27 points in the final two minutes of play despite Concordia running with them to a 44-41 second half score.
 
The Golden Bear scoring machine featured six players with at least seven points, two of those coming off the bench as Ben Kopetzki scoring eight including a pair of three-pointers, while DJ Akpati had seven points on 3-6 shooting. They helped the CSP bench outscore the Bulldogs 25-6.  
 
Drew Blair led UMD with a game-high 26 points despite 8-19 shooting as he hit all eight of his free throw attempts, added five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Austin Andrews piled up 21 points, most coming near the basket, shooting 9-13 while adding eight rebounds. Four of UMD's five starters scored at least 16 points, and only one UMD reserve scored any points off the bench.