ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-11, 4-10 NSIC) dropped a heartbreaker to Minnesota Crookston (6-14, 3-11 NSIC) by a score of 84-82 on Saturday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears led for over half of the contest, but they couldn't hang on as the Golden Eagles snuck away with their 10^th win in 37 meetings between the two schools and fourth win in 17 trips to St. Paul.
 
CSP knocked down 13 threes for the second night in a row as they connected on an efficient 46.4% (13-28) from deep, and they added a commanding edge of 14-6 on the offensive glass and a 31-10 edge in points in the paint, but it wasn't enough on the night.
 
Despite attempting 10 less shots from the floor, Minnesota Crookston made four more field goals as they were a super-efficient 58.6% (34-58) shooting compared to 44.1% (30-68) for Concordia.
 
Marcus Skeete flirted with a triple-double on the night as he led the team with 19 points, nine boards and seven assists while Reid Patterson knocked down 4-6 from three-point range to finish with 14 points.
 
Off the bench, Sean Mathieu and Chet Kloss combined for 23 points as Mathieu finished with 13 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists while Kloss hit 4-5 from the floor to chip in 10 points, three rebounds and two steals.
 
Blaize Sagna caught fire in the second half for the Golden Eagles as he scored 27 of his game-high 34 points after the break in the win.
 
After UMC scored the first four points of the contest, Concordia rattled off a 19-8 run as they built a 19-12 advantage midway through the opening half. Minnesota Crookston managed to claw their way back in it as they rattled off an 8-0 run to tie it up at 24-24 with 7:03 to go before the break, but a 10-2 run in favor of the CSP a few minutes later gave the Golden Bears their largest lead of the night at 37-28 with 2:24 on the clock. The Golden Eagles regained some momentum as they closed on a 9-2 run to close the gap to 39-37 heading to the locker room.
 
Concordia had the lead back to six at 45-39 in the opening minutes of the second half before an 8-0 run the other way gave UMC their first lead of the night at 47-45. The momentum continued to swing back and forth as CSP responded with a 9-0 run of their own before a 15-5 run the other way put UMC back in front 62-59 with 9:10 left. Will Boser buried a three to tie it 10 seconds later, but Concordia would not lead again as an 8-2 run for Minnesota Crookston gave the visitors the lead for good. Their lead grew to as many as seven at 76-69 with 4:28 to go before CSP clawed their way back to within two, but they once again couldn't get over the hump. A Patterson three at the 1:38 mark had the Golden Bears within a point at 83-82, but they were unable to convert on a few chances to tie or take the lead down the stretch as UMC held on for the 84-82 win.
 
The Golden Bears wrap up their three-game homestand on Tuesday night as they host Winona State at Gangelhoff Center at 7:30 p.m.