SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-4, 2-3 NSIC) was unable to keep up their high-scoring ways in an 85-59 loss at Sioux Falls (4-6, 2-3 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon.
Heading into the night averaging 89.0 points per game, good for second in the NSIC, the Golden Bears were limited to 59 points on 36.7% (22-60) from the floor. CSP found it especially tough sledding from beyond the arc as they hit just three of their 28 attempts (10.7%) one day after matching their season best with 17 made threes.
The Golden Bears dropped to 7-23 in the all-time series with the Cougars as USF claimed their 12
th win in the past 13 meetings.
The trio of
Ben Kopetzki,
Antwan Kimmons and
Japannah Kellogg combined for 38 of the team's 59 points on the night as the starting unit scored all but nine points for the team in the contest. Kopetzki reached double figures for the fourth time this season with a team-high 14 points to go along with four rebounds and two assists while hitting 6-12 from the field.
Kimmons followed close behind with 13 points on 4-6 shooting and 4-4 from the free throw line in his 19 minutes of action while Kellogg collected 11 points and a team-best seven rebounds, knocking down four of his seven shot attempts.
Reid Patterson added seven points and four rebounds off the bench.
Jack Thompson paced all players with 22 points on 10-19 shooting to lead the way for the Cougars while Noah Puetz added 19 points, six assists and five boards in the win.
The Cougars set the tone early with a quick 9-0 run to build a 9-3 advantage before growing their lead to eight at 15-7 just over seven minutes in. Concordia turned the tide from there as they scored nine straight points as a part of a larger 17-5 run to take their largest lead of the game at 24-20 with 6:42 left in the half. The lead would not last, however, as USF scored the next seven points to spark a 22-12 run to end the half as they took a 42-36 lead into the break.
That run became a massive 36-14 stretch as Sioux Falls rattled off 14 of the first 16 points of the second half to balloon their lead out to 56-38 with 12:39 to play. The deficit would not shrink below 14 the rest of the afternoon as USF closed on a 13-4 run to secure the 85-59 victory.
Concordia will look to get back in the win column at home on Thursday night as they host Minnesota Duluth at 5:30 p.m. before hitting the road to Minnesota State for a 1 p.m. tip-off on Saturday in their final contest of 2023.
