ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-16, 5-12 NSIC) continued their strong run on their home court as they won their third in a row at Gangelhoff Center with a 69-67 victory over Sioux Falls (16-7, 11-6 NSIC) on Friday night.
Facing the top team in the NSIC South Division standings, the Golden Bears stifled the Cougars, holding them to 42.0% (21-50) from the floor, as they withstood a late USF surge with
Sean Mathieu knocking down a go-ahead three with 1:41 left to secure the win.
The Golden Bears' three-game winning streak matches their longest since opening the 2018-19 season with four consecutive wins. CSP snapped an 11-game Sioux Falls winning streak in the all-time series between the two schools as Concordia improved to 7-22 against the Cougars.
Concordia dominated down low as they compiled a 36-20 edge in points in the paint while pulling down eight offensive boards compared to five for USF. CSP also won the turnover battle as they forced a season-high 20 turnovers while holding an 18-14 advantage in points off turnovers in the win.
Four of Concordia's five starters reached double figures on the night as
Antwan Kimmons led all players with 22 points to go along with five rebounds and four steals. The junior cleared 20+ points for the 15
th time in 23 games.
Marcus Skeete added a full line with 15 points, four boards, three assists and two blocks while
Sean Mathieu and
Jacob Everson chipped in 10 points apiece. Everson knocked down 3-4 from beyond the arc while Mathieu hit 3-4 from the field and 3-4 from the free throw line.
Noah Puetz paced Sioux Falls with 17 points and seven rebounds while NSIC leading scorer Matt Cartwright was held to 16 points on 5-16 shooting and 1-6 from deep in the loss.
Puetz got off to an incredible start as he single-handedly compiled a 13-3 run in the first four minutes, knocking down his first five shots, including three three-pointers. That lead would not last long, however, as CSP responded with an 8-0 burst to tie it up at 13-13 a minute and a half later. From there, the game of runs continued as USF scored 11 of the next 14 points to push the lead back to 24-16 before nine straight points the other way to spark a 17-3 run to give Concordia a 33-27 lead at the 1:39 mark. The Cougars chipped off two points from the deficit to make it 35-31 at the half.
With the CSP lead at 39-34 early in the second half, USF flipped the script with eight points in a row to jump back in front at 42-39. The Golden Bears once again showed their resilience as they answered with a 10-0 run of their own a minute later to take their largest lead of the night at 51-43 with 10:14 left on the clock. The Cougars slowly chipped away down the stretch until they turned a 62-57 Concordia lead into a 65-64 lead of their own with 2:03 to play. Mathieu delivered the crucial go-ahead bucket, burying a three with 1:41 left to put the Golden Bears in front before a tough tunaround jumper for Skeete 40 seconds later turned it into a two possession game. Cartwright knocked down a pair at the line with 38 seconds left and Puetz had a chance to tie it with an off-balanced jumper at the buzzer, but his attempt was off target as Concordia sealed their third straight win.
CSP will look to make it four in a row tomorrow afternoon as they host Southwest Minnesota State at 3:30 p.m.
