ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-8, 3-7 NSIC) saw the Huskies pull away with a big run midway through the contest in an 86-56 loss at St. Cloud State (7-8, 3-6 NSIC) on Wednesday.
 
After scoring the first nine points of the game and building an 18-8 lead midway through the opening half, the Golden Bears saw SCSU surge ahead with a massive 66-23 run over the next 21 minutes of play to seal their 26^th victory in 33 meetings between the two schools and 15^th win in 17 meetings at Halenbeck Hall.
 
As one of the most potent offenses on the NSIC, the Golden Bears were unable to find their rhythm on the offensive end as they were held to 36.1% (22-61) from the floor and 9.5% (2-21) from beyond the arc. The two made threes were a season low as CSP was held below seven made threes for just the second time of the season. On the other end, SCSU hit 47.0% (31-66) overall and 50.0% (10-20) from three-point range in the game.
 
Japannah Kellogg led the way for the Golden Bears with a full stat line as he finished with a team-high 14 points and seven rebounds as well as three steals and three blocks. He hit an efficient 6-9 shooting, pushing his season mark to 60.2% from the floor.
 
Marcus Skeete joined Kellogg in double figures with 11 points on 4-6 from the floor to go along with four rebounds. Ben Kopetzki and Reid Patterson each chipped in seven points apiece off the bench as Kopetzki added two boards and two assists while Patterson had a pair of rebounds.
 
St. Cloud State utilized a balanced attack with five different players in double digits in scoring, led by 14 points from Anish Ramlall.
 
Concordia put the hosts in an early hole as Skeete scored the first seven points of the night to spark a 9-0 burst to begin the game before extending the advantage to double figures at 18-8 midway through the half. The Huskies chipped away from there, however, as they scored nine of the next 11 to make it a one-possession game before using a 6-0 run a few minutes later to take their first lead of the contest at 23-22. Following a Sean Mathieu layup and a pair of free throws for St. Cloud State with two and a half minutes to go before the break, both teams were held scoreless the rest of the half as SCSU took a 25-24 lead into the locker room.
 
St. Cloud State caught fire to start the second half as they scored the first four points and 19 of the first 25 points in just three and a half minutes to jump ahead for good. In total in the first seven minutes of the half, the Huskies outscored CSP 32-8 as their lead ballooned to 25 at 57-32. The SCSU lead grew to as many as 35 before they eventually settled with the 86-56 win.
 
Concordia will look to get back in the win column on the road next weekend as they travel to Northern State and #1 MSU Moorhead.