ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (5-1) will open Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play this week, hosting Winona State (4-1) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m in the second game of a doubleheader with the women's teams.

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LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears wrapped up non-conference play over the weekend at the Peacock Classic on the campus of Upper Iowa, falling to Upper Iowa 96-88 on Saturday and topping Northwest Missouri State 73-58 on Sunday.

On Saturday,  senior guard Antwan Kimmons put together another outstanding effort with 30 points on 13-21 shooting to go along with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

Marcus Skeete notched his second double-double of the season with an 18-point, 10-rebound effort, knocking down eight of his 14 attempts from the field and adding four assists and three steals.

Ben Kopetzki finished with 13 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals while Cade Meyer also reached double figures with 12 points and eight rebounds.

A back-and-forth first half saw CSP lead by as many as seven while Upper Iowa peaked at a six-point advantage, eventually culminating in a 42-42 tie at the intermission. Concordia hit on 16 of its 34 attempts from the field (47.1%) in the half while the Peacocks were 17-40 (42.5%). The Golden Bears also managed a narrow 23-21 edge in rebounding.

The Golden Bears managed the first three buckets in the second half, but the Peacock offense came alive from that point with a 14-0 scoring run in just 2:19 of game time to open a 56-48 lead. CSP clawed its way back from there, eventually recapturing the lead on a three pointer by Will Boser that made it 67-66. Five lead changes followed, but UIU closed the game on a 12-3 run to secure the eight-point win. Despite getting outscored 54-46 in the half, the Golden Bears outshot the Peacocks 51.3% (20-39) to 44.4% (16-36). UIU held a 23-19 edge in rebounds.
 
On Sunday, Kimmons led the CSP offense once again, tallying 16 points on 5-10 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.

Senior Marcus Skeete grabbed his third double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, also adding three steals and two assists.

Sophomore guard Ben Kopetzki logged his fifth game of the season in double figures on offense, finishing with 15 points on 5-10 shooting from the field and 3-7 from beyond the arc while adding three rebounds and three assists.

Ian Sluice had his best game of the season, scoring 15 points on 5-11 shooting with all of his attempts coming from three-point range. Cade Meyer rounded out the starters with 11 points on 5-7 shooting to go along with four rebounds.

The Golden Bears came out hot in the first half, opening the game on a 9-0 run in just 1:32 of game time. The Bearcats used a 21-10 scoring run of their own to take their first lead at 21-19 with 8:18 remaining in the half. There were three additional lead changes in the final eight minutes, but it was CSP holding a 35-32 lead at the half.

The Concordia lead continued to balloon throughout the second half, peaking as high as 20 points and eventually ending with a 15-point win at 73-58. The Golden Bears dominated the stats sheet in the second half, outscoring the Bearcats 38-26, outshooting them 41.4% to just 25.0%, and holding a 24-22 edge in rebounding and a 6-2 advantage in assists. 

WINONA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Warriors have gotten the better of the Golden Bears throughout most of the series history, holding a 56-7 all-time advantage. WSU has won the last 10 matchups, with CSP's last win over Winona State coming on February 22, 2019.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE WARRIORS
When the two teams last met in late January of this year, Winona State came away with a 78-67 win at the Gangelhoff Center.

Marcus Skeete filled the box score with a team-best 22 points and 14 boards to go along with three assists as he hit 8-18 from the floor. It was the junior's third 20-10 performance and fifth double-double of the season.
 
Skeete was joined in double figures with Ben Kopetzki and Reid Patterson as Kopetzki finished with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists while Patterson had 11 points, boards and three made threes. Ian Sluice added nine points on 3-8 from beyond the arc.
 
The Golden Bears, who feature one of the most potent offenses in the league, were limited to just 33.3% (23-69) from the field and 27.8% (10-36) from deep in the loss. On the other end, WSU connected on 46.7% (28-60) overall and 40.9% (9-22) from three-point range in the win.
 
Dillon couldn't miss to start the contest as he scored the first 14 points for the Warriors and 20 of the first 22 as WSU ran out to a 22-9 lead eight and a half minutes of the opening half. The lead grew from there as an 8-0 run made it 32-13 with 7:10 to go before the break, but the Golden Bears flipped the script from there. Sluice and Skeete knocked down back-to-back three before a pair of Skeete free throws capped off a 12-2 run to shrink the deficit to single digits. Dillon scored the next four, but CSP claimed the final five points before the break to trim it to 38-30 heading to the locker room.
 
Skeete further closed the gap with a bucket early in the second half to make it a two-possession game, but a 13-5 run in favor of Winona State a few minutes later extended it back to double figures at 54-40. With the lead at 15 at 62-47 just past the midway point of the half, the Golden Bears scored seven straight to nearly cut the deficit in half, but that would be all the closer they would get as an 11-3 run in favor of WSU a couple possessions later put it out of reach. CSP scored eight of the final 11 points to bring it to a final score of 78-67.

STAT LEADERS
Six games into the season, the Golden Bears are off to a hot start in several statistical categories.
 
As a team, CSP's scoring average of 89.3 points per game leads the conference and is 19^th in all of Division II . Concordia also ranks second in the NSIC and 34^th in the nation with 41.33 rebounds per game.

Concordia's Antwan Kimmons leads the conference and ranks third in all of Division II with 27.3 points per game this season. The senior also ranks second in the NSIC in assists per game with an average of 4.8.

Marcus Skeete has been active both on offense and on the glass, ranking fourth in the NSIC with 8.8 rebounds per game and 21^st in the conference with 14.2 points per game. His three double-doubles are tied for second most in the league and 10^th most in Division II.

Senior forward Cade Meyer's field goal percentage of 69.8% is good for second in the conference and 14^th in all of Division II so far.
 
CHASING HISTORY
Marcus Skeete continues to climb the Concordia history book, now ranking ninth in program history with 1,278 points in his career. The Aurora, Ill. native became the fourth member of the 1,000/500/200 club in navy and gold last season, joining Jeff Chamberlain, Cole Olstad, and Bryndan Matthews in that exclusive group.

Antwan Kimmons' career scoring average of 20.9 points per game to this point in his career would shatter the CSP school record that currently stands at 16.5 points per game by Peter Olafeso from 2010-12.