ST. PAUL, Minn.  – With four of the five starters in double figures on offense, the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (8-2, 3-1 NSIC) extended its winning streak to three games with an 85-79 win over Wayne State (7-3, 1-3 NSIC) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play at the Gangelhoff Center on Friday evening.

Sophomore guard Ben Kopetzki topped the box score with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 5-of-6 from beyond the arc, also adding seven rebounds, six assists, and a steal.

Antwan Kimmons logged his second double-double of the season, tallying 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting to go along with a game-high 12 rebounds, six assists, and a steal.

Marcus Skeete was just behind him with 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting with six boards and a steal. Cade Meyer was the only other Concordia player in double figures with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Sophomore guard Will Boser led the effort off the bench with six points and an assist on 2-of-3 shooting with all three attempts coming from deep. Japannah Kellogg made his season debut in the game, flushing a dunk in the second half on what would turn out to be his only shot attempt.

After Wayne State took its first and only lead of the night with the first bucket of the game to go up 2-0, the Golden Bears put together an 8-0 run with three pointers from Skeete and Kopetzki and a hook shot from Meyer to take a lead that would hold for the remainder of the game.

The Wildcats kept it close in the following minutes and managed to pull within a single point at 18-17, but Concordia went on a 10-1 run lasting just over three minutes to extend the lead to double digits at 28-18 with 7:50 on the clock. The CSP advantage continued to grow throughout the remainder of the half, reaching as many as 16 points at 44-28 before a Wildcat jumper made it a 14-point game at the half.

The Golden Bears knocked down 17 of their 32 attempts (53.1%) from the field in the first half and were 6-of-11 from beyond the arc (54.5%) while Wayne State was just 13-of-29 overall (44.8%) and 3-of-10 (30.0%) from deep. Concordia also outrebounded the Wildcats 22-10 and held a 9-5 edge in assists.

Concordia maintained a double-digit advantage for the first 17 minutes of the second half, but a 5-0 Wildcat run made it a 74-68 game with 2:38 to play. The Golden Bears pushed the lead back to nine, but Wayne State made one final push to make it a six-point game at 82-76 with just 11 seconds to play. Following a pair of free throws from Skeete, a Wildcat three pointer with just five seconds to go would pull them within five. Kopetzki added the game's final point on a free throw with just three seconds remaining to settle the final score at 85-79.

For the game, CSP went 30-of-62 (48.4%) from the field and 10-of-24 (41.7%) from beyond the arc while the Wildcats were 32-of-69 overall (46.4%) and 9-of-25 (36.0%) from deep. Though they didn't fully capitalize on their opportunities, the charity stripe provided a significant advantage for the Golden Bears as Concordia made 15 of its 26 free throw attempts while Wayne was 6-of-8.

Outrebounding the Wildcats 44-29 overall and 13-5 on the offensive glass allowed Concordia to carve out a 15-7 advantage in second chance points. Wayne State won the turnover battle 10-7 and capitalized with a 15-9 edge in points off turnovers.  

Wayne State's JJ Ferrin led all players in the game with 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting.

The Golden Bears will return to action on Saturday, hosting Augustana (3-7, 0-4 NSIC) at 5:30 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center.