ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-7, 3-6 NSIC) battled their way to a hard fought 84-76 win over University of Mary (6-8, 1-7 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at Gangelhoff Center.
 
The Golden Bears improved to 8-3 on the season in games in which they have scored 80+ points while they also moved to 17-9 in the all-time series against the Marauders, including wins in five of the past six.
 
Strong perimeter defense aided the effort for the Golden Bears as they held their opponent without a made three-pointer for the first time in nearly 16 years, holding the Marauders to 0-12 from beyond the arc. The last time CSP shut out an opponent from three-point range also came against UMary in an 0-12 effort all the way back on Feb. 8, 2008 at Gangelhoff Center.
 
Concordia turned that into a 30-point advantage from deep as they hit 10-26 (38.5%) from three. CSP also held a slim 43.6%-42.6% edge from the floor on the day as well as a 35-34 rebounding advantage.
 
CSP's starting five were their top five scorers in the contest as the quintet combined for 74 of the team's 84 points. Marcus Skeete led all players with 27 points on 8-18 shooting to go along with six rebounds, two rebounds and two steals.
 
Sean Mathieu and Ian Sluice joined him in double figures as Mathieu finished with 15 points on 6-9 shooting with four boards while Sluice had 11 points and six rebounds. Japannah Kellogg filled the stat sheet with nine points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists in the win.
 
The duo of Brock Heffner and Gerald Gittens provided the offense for the Marauders as Heffner put up 26 points and Gittens followed with 22.
 
It was a quiet start for both teams as the game's first made field goal didn't come until a UMary bucket at 16:21 gave the visitors a 3-0 lead. Back-to-back Skeete threes and a Mathieu old fashioned three-point play broke the seal as CSP built a 9-3 advantage just past the five minute mark.
 
The opening half featured five more ties and five more lead changes as both teams traded blows from there. A 12-3 run for the Golden Bears late in the half put Concordia in front 31-23 with 4:08 to go before the break, but the Marauders responded with 13 of the last 17 points to take a 36-35 lead of their own after 20 minutes of play.
 
After a Will Boser three followed by a Kellogg layup to start the second half, the Golden Bears would not trail again. With the gap still at one at 48-47 with 12:34 to play, CSP strung together a timely 16-6 run over the next five to take their largest lead of the contest at 64-53. UMary battled back, however, as they scored the next seven in a row, all from the free throw line, to close the gap to four before making it a one possession at 70-67 with 2:37 remaining. Concordia held strong as they would not allow the Marauders to pull any closer as they sealed the 84-76 victory.
 
Concordia will now hit the road for three straight games, starting with a Wednesday night trip to St. Cloud State.