ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-8, 3-7 NSIC) remains on the road this weekend as they travel to Northern State (6-10, 4-7 NSIC) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and #5 MSU Moorhead (15-1, 9-1 NSIC) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Last Wednesday, CSP saw the Huskies pull away with a big run midway through the contest in an 86-56 loss at St. Cloud State.
 
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 26th victory in 33 meetings between the two schools.
 
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.
 
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.
 
NSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears hold a 7-34 record in the all-time series against the Wolves, with NSU grabbing eight wins in a row. Concordia has found wins hard to come by in Aberdeen as they have claimed just one win in 23 trips to Northern State, but they have had much more success in St. Paul, with six wins in 17 meetings on their home court. CSP's last win in the series came in an 84-76 victory back on Jan. 30, 2016 while their lone win at NSU was a 66-65 overtime win on Jan. 31, 2015.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE WOLVES
Back on Jan. 21, 2023, Concordia saw their late surge fall short in a 75-67 loss at Northern State.
 
Trailing by 20 with under 10 minutes to play, the Golden Bears rattled off a 19-5 run to trim the deficit to six in the final two minutes of the contest, but their comeback bid ran out of steam as the Wolves held on.
 
It was a defensive battle at Wachs Arena as CSP held NSU to 42.9% (27-63) from the floor while connecting on 39.1% (25-64) on the offensive end. The Golden Bears won the battle on the glass as they finished with a 43-35 rebounding edge, pulling down 10 offensive boards compared to six for Northern State. Concordia also proved to be more effective down low as 34 of their 67 points came in the paint while NSU had 26 paint points. The Wolves found an advantage from beyond the arc as they knocked down 13 threes on 32 attempts (40.6%) while the Golden Bears managed seven on 29 attempts (24.1%).
 
Junior Antwan Kimmons put up a massive performance as he matched a game-best with 25 points on 10-18 shooting while pulling down a DII program-record 16 rebounds to go along with three assists. His 16 boards broke the previous record of 15, set by five different players, most recently on Nov. 11, 2018 by Bryndan Matthews. His 25 point effort was also his seventh with 25+ on the season.
 
MSUM SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and the Dragons are set to meet for the 37th time in the all-time series, with CSP going 13-23 in the previous meetings. Both teams have found more success on their home courts as the Golden Bears have gone 9-8 in St. Paul and 4-15 in Moorhead. After Concordia won three of four from 2016-17, MSUM have won the last four in a row.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE DRAGONS
Exactly a year ago to the day to this year's meeting, the Golden Bears fell to then-#22 MSU Moorhead on the road by a score of 90-64.
 
After an even start to the contest, MSUM pulled ahead late in the first half before extending their lead after the break.
 
While the Golden Bears were the best team in the league forcing turnovers to that point of the season, the turnover battle went in the favor of MSU Moorhead on the night as MSUM turned 18 CSP turnovers in 23 points while Concordia finished with three points on seven Dragon turnovers. The Dragons added a 14-5 edge in second chance points as well as a 44-38 edge in points in the paint while the Golden Bears led the way with a 25-18 advantage in bench scoring.
 
Antwan Kimmons was one of three Golden Bears in double figures scoring as he led the squad with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists. He was joined by Ian Sluice and Sean Mathieu, who each contributed 11 points, as Sluice hit three of four from deep and added three boards on the night.
 
STAT LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears rank highly in several statistical categories.
 
As a team, CSP ranks second in the NSIC and ranks 38th in the nation with 9.7 made threes per game while they also rank second and 36th, respectively, in free throws made with 17.7 per game. Concordia also ranks third in the league and 65th in the country with 81.4 points per night as well as third in the conference and 12th in the nation with 29.1 defensive rebounds per game.
 
Individually, Marcus Skeete's 5.7 defensive rebounds per game are good for sixth in the league and his 84.7% free throw percentage also ranks sixth. The junior also sits in second in sixth in field goal percentage (52.5%) and 11th in rebounds per game (6.7). Japannah Kellogg ranks second with 1.31 blocks per game and sixth with 2.5 offensive rebounds per game.
 
CHASING HISTORY
Junior Marcus Skeete has been a key offensive contributor throughout his four seasons with the Golden Bears as he has tallied 1,047 points over 82 career games, becoming the 19th member of the 1,000 point club at CSP on Dec. 16 at Minnesota State and first since Bryndan Matthews in 2019. The Aurora, Ill. native also sits 21 rebounds shy of 500 and has 207 assists in his career. Only three players have reached the 1,000/500/200 club in navy and gold, with Skeete looking to join Jeff Chamberlain, Cole Olstad and Matthews in that exclusive group.