MANKATO, Minn. – Junior Marcus Skeete became the 19^th member of the 1,000 point club in program history as the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-6, 2-5 NSIC) saw their comeback bid fall short in an 88-80 loss at #3 Minnesota State (12-0, 6-0 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon.
 
With his three-pointer with 16 seconds to play in the game, Skeete reached the 1,000 point mark, making him the 19^th player in school history and first since Bryndan Matthews to reach the mark. Skeete grabbed his fourth double-double of the season as he finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in the loss.
 
It was a wild second half at Taylor Center as the Golden Bears saw the Mavericks run out to an 18-point lead before a huge 29-7 stretch gave CSP their first lead since the opening minutes of the contest at 70-66 with seven and a half minutes left. The Mavericks responded with a 20-4 run of their own to take the lead for good as they sealed their 19^th consecutive win in the all-time series, dropping Concordia to 6-35 against Minnesota State.
 
The Golden Bears were the far more efficient of the two teams offensively on the day as they hit 50.8% (30-59) from the floor and 50.0% (10-20) from beyond the arc while holding MSU to 35.7% (30-84) overall and 37.0% (10-27) from deep. The Mavericks made up for it with a large edge in opportunities as they won the battle on the glass and on the turnover front. Minnesota State turned a 22-4 advantage on the offensive glass into a 30-0 edge in second chance points while they turned 18 CSP turnovers into 23 points compared to 10 points on eight MSU turnovers for Concordia.
 
Antwan Kimmons was the top option for the Golden Bear offense as he was an efficient 11-16 shooting to finish with a game-high 26 points. He added seven boards and three assists on the day. Will Boser was a threat from deep off the bench as he hit 4-8 from three-point range to score a career-best 14 points in 25 minutes of action. Japannah Kellogg gave CSP four players in double figures as he filled the box score with 10 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals in the loss.
 
The duo of Elijah Hazekamp and Justin Eagins led the Mavericks with 20 points apiece while Dylan Peeters pulled down a game-high 19 rebounds in the win.
 
Three early threes gave the Golden Bears a 9-3 lead, but the Mavericks quickly turned the tide in their favor with an extended 22-5 run to build a 27-16 advantage of their own just past the midway point of the opening half. Concordia answered with five in a row before pulling as close as five before the break at 34-29. MSU managed to push it back to 11 with two and a half minutes to go before half, but back-to-back CSP buckets closed the cap to 43-36 after 20 minutes of play.
 
Minnesota State looked poised to put the game away as they used a 16-4 run to build their largest lead of the afternoon at 59-41 with 14:37 to play, but the Golden Bears came storming back. Concordia hit an incredible 11-11 from the floor while holding the Mavericks to 2-12 shooting over the next seven minutes to string together their massive run as they jumped ahead 70-66 at the 7:38 mark. The CSP lead would not last as the game of runs continued as MSU scored 20 of the next 24 points to gain the decisive edge at 86-74 in the final minute of play. A couple of late threes, including Skeete's before the horn, trimmed it to a final margin of 88-80.
 
The Golden Bears return to regular season action after the New Year as they host Minot State and UMary on Jan. 5-6.