ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-11, 4-10 NSIC) is set for a busy week as they host Winona State (12-8, 7-7 NSIC) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. before traveling to Wayne State (12-9, 5-9 NSIC) and Augustana (13-7, 8-6 NSIC) over the weekend.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Over the weekend, the Golden Bears claimed a weekend split at Gangelhoff Center as they knocked off Bemidji State 92-84 on Friday before falling to Minnesota Crookston 84-82 on Saturday.
 
On Friday, the Golden Bears did not trail the entire night as they held off the Beavers to pull within one win of .500 in the all-time series, moving to 19-20 in 39 meetings. CSP took care of the basketball as they turned it over just four times, resulting in two BSU points, while they scored 15 points on eight turnovers for the Beavers. Concordia also received production from across the lineup with five different players scoring in double figures and eight scoring at least five.
 
Marcus Skeete paced the squad with 24 points and eight rebounds on an efficient 9-13 shooting and 5-6 from the free throw line in the win. Ben Kopetzki also filled the stat sheet with 17 points, six assists, three boards and two steals while Sean Mathieu came off the bench to provide 12 points, five assists, five rebounds and three made threes in the victory.
 
On Saturday, CSP led for over half of the contest, but they couldn't hang on as the Golden Eagles snuck away with their 10th 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.
 
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.
 
WSU SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears head into Tuesday's meeting with Winona State with a record of 7-55 against the Warriors. WSU won the first 31 meetings from 1986-2008 before CSP registered their first win in the series. Concordia's best stretch in the series came from 2015-16 as they won three of four during that stretch, but Winona State has won 13 of the last 14 since then, including the last nine in a row. CSP has found more success on the road as they have gone 5-29 in Winona compared to 2-23 in St. Paul.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE WARRIORS
In the first meeting of the season in the NSIC opener back on Nov. 21, Concordia led for much of the opening half before seeing Winona State take the lead for good in the latter stages of the second half in a 75-69 loss at McCown Gymnasium.
 
In a game where very little separated the two teams, Winona State claimed the decisive edge at the free throw line as they knocked down 14 of their 20 attempts (70.5%) while CSP got to the line just eight times, hitting five of their attempts (62.5%). Concordia did manage a 15-9 edge in bench scoring as well as a 36-33 advantage on the glass and a 34-32 advantage in points in the paint in the loss.
 
Jordan Horn was the focal point of the Golden Bear offense as he scored 20 of his team-high 26 points in the first half. He connected on 10-20 from the floor and 6-12 from beyond the arc while adding three assists and two boards on the night. Marcus Skeete tallied his second double-double in the past three games as he contributed 12 points along with a game-best 12 rebounds in the loss. He added four assists and two steals in a full stat line.
 
WSC SERIES HISTORY
Heading into the weekend, the Golden Bears sit at 20-30 in the all-time series with the Wildcats. Since a stretch from 2006-2011 that saw Concordia win nine of 10 meetings, Wayne State has turned the momentum in their favor with 20 wins in the last 26 and 13 of 15. Concordia has found much more success on their home court as they have gone 13-15 in St. Paul and 7-16 in Wayne in the series.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE WILDCATS
At Gangelhoff Center back on Dec. 3, CSP fought their way to an 84-76 win over Wayne State.
 
With their top two scorers out for the game, junior Marcus Skeete stepped up in a big way as he scored a season-best 30 points and matched his career high with 13 boards in the win. Skeete was highly efficient as he hit 8-13 from the field, 4-7 from beyond the arc and 10-10 from the free throw line in the contest. Sean Mathieu gave Concordia two players in double digits in scoring as he added 13 points on 6-10 shooting while he added three rebounds and two assists.
 
Concordia's ability to get to the free throw line made a huge difference in the game as they hit 23-31 (74.2%) from the line while limiting the Wildcats to just 8-11 (72.7%). The Golden Bears also took advantage of their extra opportunities as their 16-10 edge in offensive rebounds led to a 15-5 advantage in second chance points. Overall, CSP outrebounded WSC 49-39 in the win. Defensively, the Golden Bears held WSC to just 42.7% (32-75) from the floor and 22.2% (4-18) from three-point range to aid the effort.
 
AUGIE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Vikings will be meeting for the 37th time in the all-time series as Augustana holds a 30-6 edge in the previous 36 meetings. Augie has been especially dominant in the recent history of the series as they had won 21 in a row over CSP prior to the first meeting of last year. Concordia has compiled a 5-13 record on their home court while picking up just one win in 17 trips to Augustana.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE VIKINGS
Back on Dec. 2, nearly erased double-digit deficits in both halves, but they were unable to complete the comeback as they fell to Augustana 92-87 in St. Paul.
 
Trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half and as many as 15 after the break, the Golden Bears showed their grit as they trimmed the deficit to one possession on both occasions, but they couldn't quite get over the hump.
 
Concordia found success in transition as they tallied a significant 23-9 edge in fast break points while they also won the battle on the glass with a 40-27 rebounding advantage, including an 8-5 edge in offensive boards. With both teams shooting a nearly identical percentage from the floor (Augie at 50.0% and CSP at 49.1%), the difference proved to be turnovers. Augustana was highly efficient on Golden Bear miscues as they turned 15 CSP turnovers into 29 points while Concordia managed just six points on seven Viking turnovers.
 
Marcus Skeete led the way with 18 points on an efficient 6-9 shooting and 6-6 from the free throw line while he added eight rebounds and three assists. Jordan Horn and Japannah Kellogg followed close behind as they each finished with 16 points. Horn picked up his second double-double in the past three games with a game-high 11 rebounds while Kellogg was nearly perfect from the floor, hitting 6-7 to go along with six boards.
 
STAT LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears rank highly in several statistical categories.
 
As a team, CSP leads the NSIC and 33rd in the nation with 9.8 made threes per game while they rank second and 54th, respectively, in free throws made with 16.1 per game. Concordia also ranks second in the league and 53rd in the country with 81.9 points per night as well as second in the conference and ninth in the nation with 28.9 defensive rebounds per game.
 
Individually, Marcus Skeete's 85.2% free throw percentage ranks fourth in the league and his 5.4 defensive rebounds per game are good for sixth. The junior also sits in fifth in field goal percentage (51.8%) and 11th in rebounds per game (6.7). Japannah Kellogg ranks fourth with 1.16 blocks per game and eighth with 2.21 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 1,119 points over 86 career games. He became 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 became the fourth member of the 1,000/500/200 club in navy and gold last Saturday as he joined Jeff Chamberlain, Cole Olstad and Matthews in that exclusive group.