MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-10, 3-9 NSIC) pushed #5 MSU Moorhead (17-1, 11-1 NSIC) to the finish line in a 79-72 loss on the road on Saturday night.
 
CSP remained within four with under three minutes to play, but they couldn't quite pull off the upset as MSUM picked up their 16^th win in 20 meetings in Moorhead and 24^th win in 37 meetings overall in the series.
 
Concordia's bench brigade provided a spark on the night as they outscored MSU Moorhead's reserves 30-11 in the contest, led by 13 points from John Grigsby and 12 from Reid Patterson. Grigsby hit 5-8 from the floor and 3-5 from beyond the arc while Patterson was a perfect 5-5 shooting and 2-2 from the line to go along with three boards.
 
The Golden Bears made the Dragons work for their points as they limited the hosts to 43.8% (28-64) from the floor and 20.0% (4-20) from deep on the night while they hit 45.6% (26-57) and 43.8% (7-16), respectively, on the other end. The difference of the game came in the paint and in the turnover column as MSUM finished with a 46-28 advantage in the paint to go along with a 21-11 edge in points off turnovers to aid their effort.
 
Ben Kopetzki and Marcus Skeete gave the Golden Bears four players in double figures as Kopetzki knocked down 6-7 from the charity stripe to lead the team with 15 points while Skeete added 13 on 6-11 shooting. Kopetzki chipped in three rebounds, three assists and two steals as well.
 
Jamir Prince paced all players with 22 points as he added six boards and four steals in the win for the Dragons.
 
An early 7-0 run put the Golden Bears in an 11-4 run before the Dragons extended their lead to nine at 22-13 13 minutes into the contest, but CSP battled back from there. Concordia scored the next five points to spark a 13-6 stretch over four minutes to close the gap to just two at 28-26. MSUM eventually settled with a 37-32 advantage heading into the locker room at the break.
 
A Skeete bucket to start the second half trimmed it back to a one-possession game at 37-34, but the Dragons wouldn't relinquish the lead as they kept the Golden Bears at arm's length for much of the rest of the half. With the margin still at four at 44-40 with 16:07 to play, MSU Moorhead scored 12 of the next 17 points to push their lead to double digits at 56-45 with just prior to the midway point of the half. The lead grew to as many as 13 at 64-51 with 7:51 to play, but Concordia showed their toughness as they would not go away.
 
CSP needed just under five minutes to compile a 15-6 run that shrunk the MSUM edge to just four at 70-66 as they put themselves in a great position with 2:53 left on the clock. Kopetzki tried to keep the Golden Bears in it as he scored the final six points of the night for the Golden Bears, but they were unable to chip away any further as the Dragons held on for a 79-72 win.
 
Concordia returns to Gangelhoff Center for three games in five days with Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston coming to town on Friday and Saturday before Winona State heads to St. Paul on Tuesday.