ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-6, 2-5 NSIC) returns to Gangelhoff Center as they kick off 2024 with NSIC contests against Minot State (9-3, 4-2 NSIC) on Friday and UMary (6-6, 1-5 NSIC) on Saturday.
 
BUY TICKETS TO HOME GAMES ONLINE
Fans are encouraged to buy tickets in advance and bring your QR code to the gates to skip the line! Friends and families who utilize the pass list will also be utilizing the online ticketing service while all students, faculty & staff will access their free CSP tickets through the service. Fans do not need to create a login, remember a username or password or download an app to purchase tickets, and tickets can still be purchased with cash at the gates. Find out more in the partnership announcement between CSP Athletics and HomeTown Ticketing.
 
WATCH ONLINE – NSIC NETWORK
All Golden Bear NSIC men's and women's basketball games will be available to watch online, free of charge, powered by the NSIC Network, supported by BlueFrame Technology. Visit nsicnetwork.com/cspbears on a laptop or desktop computer, download the NSIC Network app on your mobile device or watch on your supported OTT provider such as Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV. Search "NSIC Network" and download the app for the league's full sport and team lineups. NSIC NETWORK FAQ
 
DOWNLOAD THE APP
Fans can download the CSP Bears fan app, free of charge and available in the App Store or on Google Play. The app contains rosters, schedules, scores, stats, news, social media and more! Customize your options to get notifications to your favorite teams, as well. Search "CSP Bears" in the app store to stay up-to-date on Golden Bear athletics.

LAST TIME OUT
In their last game in 2023, junior Marcus Skeete became the 19th member of the 1,000 point club in program history as the CSP saw their comeback bid fall short in an 88-80 loss at #3 Minnesota State on Dec. 16.
 
With his three-pointer with 16 seconds to play in the game, Skeete reached the 1,000 point mark, making him the 19th player in school history and first since Bryndan Matthews to reach the mark. Skeete grabbed his fourth double-double of the season as he finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in the loss.
 
It was a wild second half at Taylor Center as the Golden Bears saw the Mavericks run out to an 18-point lead before a huge 29-7 stretch gave CSP their first lead since the opening minutes of the contest at 70-66 with seven and a half minutes left. The Mavericks responded with a 20-4 run of their own to take the lead for good as they sealed their 19th consecutive win in the all-time series, dropping Concordia to 6-35 against Minnesota State.
 
The Golden Bears were the far more efficient of the two teams offensively on the day as they hit 50.8% (30-59) from the floor and 50.0% (10-20) from beyond the arc while holding MSU to 35.7% (30-84) overall and 37.0% (10-27) from deep. The Mavericks made up for it with a large edge in opportunities as they won the battle on the glass and on the turnover front. Minnesota State turned a 22-4 advantage on the offensive glass into a 30-0 edge in second chance points while they turned 18 CSP turnovers into 23 points compared to 10 points on eight MSU turnovers for Concordia.
 
MiSU SERIES HISTORY
Concordia and Minot State have met just 10 previous times with the Golden Bears going 3-7 in those meetings. After the two teams split the first two meetings, the Beavers rattled off five straight wins and six of the last eight. While CSP has yet to register a win in five trips to Minot, the Golden Bears have gone 3-2 on their home court against MiSU.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE BEAVERS
Back on Jan. 27, 2023, CSP pulled out a wild 86-85 overtime victory against Minot State at Gangelhoff Center.
 
Very little separated the two teams on the night as the contest featured a staggering 15 ties and 17 lead changes. The Golden Bears grabbed the all-important final lead of the night as junior Antwan Kimmons was fouled on three-point attempt with 1.0 second left on the clock in the extra session. Kimmons stepped up and calmly knocked down all three free throws to turn an 85-83 deficit into an 86-85 win.
 
Perimeter shooting played a key role in the win as Concordia knocked down a season-best 15 threes on 31 attempts (48.4%) on the night. That total tied for sixth in school history and most since they knocked down 16 at Minnesota Duluth on Feb. 26, 2020. CSP defended the arc well as well, holding the Beavers to 8-24 (33.3%). The Golden Bears also held a significant advantage overall from the floor with a mark of 50.0% (28-56) compared to 40.5% (30-74) for Minot State.
 
Antwan Kimmons fell a rebound short of his second consecutive 20-10 game as he led all players with 21 points and nine boards while he dished out five assists. He was an uber-efficient 8-10 from the floor and 2-2 from deep while he also connected on all three of his attempts from the line.
 
UMARY SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears take a 16-9 record against the Marauders into this weekend's matchup between the two schools. While Concordia has put up a solid 8-4 record on their home court against U-Mary, they have been even better in Bismarck with eight wins in 11 trips there. CSP has been especially successful in the recent history of the series with the Golden Bears claiming wins in 10 of the last 13 meetings and four in the last five.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE MARAUDERS
In last year's meeting on Jan. 28, 2023, the Golden Bears finished off the weekend sweep as they held off UMary in a 67-62 win at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears came out firing in the game's opening 20 minutes, leading by as many as 18, before seeing the Marauders battle back after the break. UMary managed to close the gap to three midway through the second half and again in the final two minutes, but Concordia held strong to secure the victory.
 
The Golden Bears gave themselves extra possessions to aid their effort on the afternoon as they committed just seven turnovers while holding a 44-39 rebounding edge, including a 16-10 advantage on the offensive glass, in the win. CSP turned that into a 13-5 edge in points off turnovers as well as an 11-8 edge in second chance points. Concordia also added an 18-6 advantage in bench scoring while they connected on 10-12 from the free throw line (83.3%) compared to 6-13 (46.2%) for UMary.
 
Concordia's three leading scorers all reached double figures in the contest as Antwan Kimmons led with 16 points while Marcus Skeete had 14 and Jacob Everson added 11. All three filled the box score in other areas as well with Kimmons picking up his fourth double-double of the season with 10 boards, four steals and three assists. Skeete chipped in eight rebounds while Everson had four rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
STAT LEADERS
So far this season, the Golden Bears rank highly in several statistical categories.
 
As a team, CSP leads the NSIC and ranks 20th in the nation with 10.4 made threes per game while they also rank first and 34th, respectively, in free throws made with 17.4 per game. Concordia also ranks second in the league and 43rd in the country with 84.5 points per night as well as second in the conference and eighth in the nation with 29.6 defensive rebounds per game.
 
Individually, Marcus Skeete's 6.25 defensive rebounds per game are good for third in the league and his 84.8% free throw percentage ranks fifth. The junior also sits in second in double-doubles (4), sixth in field goal percentage (54.4%) and ninth in rebounds per game (7.3). Japannah Kellogg ranks fifth with 2.62 offensive rebounds per game and sixth with 1.08 blocks per game.
 
Despite missing five games this season, Jordan Horn ranks fifth in the league with 32 made threes while his 42 made free throws rank 13^th and his 190 points rank 14^th.
 
CHASING HISTORY
Junior Marcus Skeete has been a key offensive contributor throughout his four seasons with the Golden Bears as he has tallied 1,000 career points over 79 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 34 rebounds shy of 500 and has 202 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.