ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-7, 2-6 NSIC) ran into a hot shooting Minot State (10-3, 5-2 NSIC) in a 103-65 loss on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
After seeing the Beavers hit 13 of their first 14 shots over the first seven and a half minutes of the contest to build a 29-13 advantage, the Golden Bears were unable to recover as they fell to 3-8 in 11 meetings against Minot State.
On the night, the Beavers connected on 60.0% (42-70) from the floor and 55.6% (10-18) from beyond the arc while CSP was held to marks of 36.5% (23-63) and 27.6% (8-29), respectively. Minot State held a significant 52-26 advantage in the paint to go along with a 47-29 rebounding edge in the victory.
Sean Mathieu provided a bright spot for Concordia as he hit 5-9 from the floor, 3-7 from three-point range and 4-4 from the free throw line to finish with a career-best 17 points. He added a pair of rebounds and a pair of assists in the loss.
Marcus Skeete added nine points while
Japannah Kellogg and
DJ Akpati finished with seven apiece on the night. Kellogg pulled down a team-high seven boards while Akpati had five.
Ben Kopetzki chipped in five points, a team-best three assists and two rebounds in the contest.
Minot State had five players reach double figures in scoring, led by 19 from Ben Bohl. Bohl shot a near-perfect 8-9 from the floor, hitting both of his attempts from deep.
The Golden Bears doubled up the Beavers in the game's opening minutes as they built an 8-4 advantage at the 18:36, but Minot State quickly turned the tide in their favor. With CSP still out front 12-10 just over three minutes into the game, MiSU rattled off a 17-0 run on a perfect 7-7 shooting to take the lead for good at 27-12. Another 8-0 run later in the half ballooned the lead to 25 at 47-22 before the visitors took a 56-35 advantage into the locker room at the half.
It was more of the same for the Beavers in the second half as they used a 9-0 run followed by a 10-0 run a few minutes later to push it to 37 just past the midway point of the half. Minot State's largest lead came at the final horn as they closed out the 103-65 victory.
Concordia will look to get back in the win column tomorrow afternoon as they host the University of Mary at 3:30 p.m. at Gangelhoff Center.
