MARSHALL, Minn. – For the second time this season, the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-3, 2-2 NSIC) knocked down 17 three-pointers as they cruised to an 88-68 win at Southwest Minnesota State (4-4, 1-3 NSIC) on Friday night.
 
The Golden Bears made it two straight wins in NSIC play as they caught fire from deep in the victory. CSP, who entered the night first in the NSIC and 16^th in the nation with 10.7 made threes per game, added to that total as they connected on 17 for the second time in two weeks, matching their second largest total overall and largest on the road in program history. That total trails only the 19 made threes against SCSU on January 18, 2019 at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The shooting from beyond the arc played a major role in the outcome of the contest as Concordia hit 16 more from deep than the Mustangs while out-shooting the hosts 43.6% (17-39) to 7.7% (1-13) from three-point range. In total, CSP hit 45.6% (31-68) from the floor compared to 43.5% (27-62) for SMSU.
 
While that proved to be the biggest difference maker in the contest, CSP also added a 41-33 rebounding edge, including a 12-7 offensive rebound advantage, to go along with an 18-7 edge in second chance points in the win. Concordia also utilized their bench in a big way with 43 of their 88 points coming from their reserves.
 
Nearly half of those 43 points came from sophomore Reid Patterson, who exploded for a career-best 24 points in the win. Patterson tied for the eighth-most made threes in single-game history at CSP as he hit 6-11 from deep to go along with 4-4 from the free throw line. He was especially effective after the break as he scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the game's final 20 minutes. Will Boser nearly gave the Golden Bears two in double figures off the bench as he hit 3-6 from three-point range to tally nine points.
 
Three of Concordia's five starters reached double digits as Marcus Skeete narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points on 5-8 shooting, nine boards and five assists while Antwan Kimmons and Ben Kopetzki added 10 points apiece. Kimmons chipped in six rebounds, five assists and three made threes while Kopetzki hit 4-7 shooting and dished out a pair of assists.
 
Aeron Stevens was a bright spot off the bench for the Mustangs as he finished with a team-high 21 points on 7-11 from the floor off the bench.
 
Back-to-back early threes gave the Golden Bears a quick 8-2 lead before SMSU answered with an 11-3 run to take a 13-11 lead of their own at the 13:25 mark of the opening half. It proved to be short-lived, however, as CSP used threes from Kimmons and Boser to spark another 11-2 burst to take the lead back at 22-15 three minutes later. The lead shrunk to three several times before the end of the half, but another barrage from beyond the arc, this time three in the final 1:48, including two from Boser, extended the lead to eight at 45-37 heading to the break.
 
The Mustangs closed the gap back down to four the in opening moments of the second half, but a 7-0 run in favor of CSP gave the visitors their first double digit lead at 55-43 with 16:08 to go. From there, the lead fluctuated between eight and 12 until Patterson and Kopetzki combined to put the game on ice. Over the final nine minutes, the duo scored 15 points as the Golden Bears outscored the Mustangs 21-10 to seal the comfortable victory.
 
Concordia will look to make it three in a row tomorrow afternoon as they travel to Sioux Falls for a 3:30 p.m. tip-off at Stewart Center.