MARSHALL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (2-0) capped off a perfect weekend at the NSIC/MIAA Challenge on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday afternoon with an 82-68 win over #16 Fort Hays State (0-2) behind a balanced offensive effort with all five starters in double figures.
The win was the Golden Bears' first over a ranked opponent since February 22, 2017, when they defeated #19 MSU Moorhead 86-78 in the first round of the NSIC Tournament. The victory was also head coach
Matt Fletcher's 100th career coaching win, with 76 wins at Bethany Lutheran College and 24 wins at CSP.
The opening half contained seven lead changes early on, but CSP held the advantage for more than 12 minutes in the half and led by as many as nine before taking a 44-40 lead into halftime. The Golden Bears shot 53.3% from the floor (16-30) and 33.3% from deep (5-15) in the half while Fort Hays State was 15-28 (53.6%) from the field and 4-11 from beyond the arc (36.4%).
Fort Hays State chipped away at Concordia's lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the second half, eventually taking a 59-57 lead with 11:18 remaining. The lead proved to be short-lived as CSP regained the advantage less than a minute later on a free throw from
Antwan Kimmons and closed the game on a 25-9 scoring run to secure the 14-point win.
Kimmons and
Marcus Skeete topped the score sheet with 17 points each for Concordia, also leading the team with nine rebounds each. Skeete was 6-9 shooting from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arc with two blocks and two steals while Kimmons had one steal and was 4-12 from the field and 8-11 from the charity stripe.
Sophomore guard
Ben Kopetzki finished with 13 points on 4-8 shooting, also pulling down four boards and adding a team-high four assists and two steals. Junior
Ian Sluice was just behind him with 12 points on 4-7 shooting with all seven attempts coming from beyond the arc. Sluice led all players in the game in plus-minus, finishing an impressive plus-30 for CSP.
Cade Meyer rounded out Concordia's starters with 11 points on 4-8 shooting, also adding six rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal. Junior guard
Sean Mathieu led the effort off the bench with six points on 3-4 shooting and two rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
The Tigers were paced by Shaun Riley with 18 points and 10 rebounds on 8-15 shooting. Kaleb Hammeke and Traejon Davis also reached double figures for Fort Hays State with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
As a unit, Concordia was 27-55 (49.1%) from the field and 10-26 (38.5%) from beyond the arc in the game while Fort Hays State finished 27-62 (43.5%) overall and 5-18 (27.8%) from deep. CSP got to the free throw line over twice as much as FHSU, going 18-24 while the Tigers were 9-11. Each team turned the ball over seven times, but Fort Hays State held a 14-12 edge in points off turnovers.
The Golden Bears will return to action on Thursday, November 14 when they meet St. Cloud State in a non-conference bout on the road at 6 p.m.
