ST. PAUL, Minn.  – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-2, 4-1 NSIC) extended its winning streak to four games on Saturday afternoon, holding on throughout a tightly contested second half to escape with a 99-97 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference win over Augustana (3-8, 0-5 NSIC) at the Gangelhoff Center.

With the win, Concordia matched its best start to a season through 11 games in program history, tying the 2005-06 and 2006-07 Division II teams and the 1988-89 NAIA squad that all started 9-2. The win brought the all-time series to 31-7 in favor of Augustana with the Vikings now holding a record of 13-6 at the Gangelhoff Center.  

Sophomore guard Ben Kopetzki finished as the scoring leader for the second time in as many games, tallying a career-high 26 points on 8-of-10 shooting and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc while leading the team with seven rebounds and adding two assists and two steals.

Senior forward Cade Meyer came within a single point of his season high, scoring 23 on 10-of-16 shooting and adding four rebounds, two steals, a block, and an assist.

Antwan Kimmons also put together a strong performance, logging 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting and going a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line with four rebounds, a team-high six assists, and two blocks. Kimmons now sits at 976 career points at CSP, needing just 26 to become the 20^th member of Concordia's 1,000-point club.

Marcus Skeete was the only other Golden Bear in double figures with 11 points, three rebounds, and an assist.

Sophomore guard Will Boser provided another spark off the bench with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting and 2-of-3 from three-point range.

The Vikings carved out a 7-4 lead early in the opening half, but the Golden Bears battled back to even the game at 13-13 on three made free throws from Ben Kopetzki with 14:46 on the clock. The game remained close in the following minutes, but a 20-4 run by the Golden Bears that lasted more than six minutes gave CSP a 39-25 lead with 5:50 left in the half. Momentum flipped in the final five minutes, with Augustana going on a 19-9 run that made it a four-point game at the half.

The Golden Bears shot the ball well in the half, going 18-of-30 (60.0%) from the field and 4-of-9 (44.4%) from beyond the arc while the Vikings were 20-of-40 (50.0%) overall and 3-of-10 (30.0%) from deep. Augustana held a 19-17 rebounding advantage while assists were dead even at nine each.

Concordia worked to cushion its lead in the early minutes of the second half, using a quick 8-2 run to push the advantage all the way to 13 at 76-63 with 11:39 to play. The Golden Bears held the Vikings at arm's length for another two minutes of play, but Augustana put together an 11-2 run lasting just 1:26 to cut the deficit to three at 84-81 with 7:43 remaining.

The trend of momentum-shifting runs continued from that point, with Concordia managing an equally impressive 11-1 scoring burst to restore the 13-point advantage with just over five minutes to play.

The Vikings would not go down easy, scoring 11 unanswered points over the next three minutes to cut the deficit to just two points at 95-93 with under two minutes remaining in regulation. Following a pair of made baskets from each team, Augustana took a timeout with just 14 seconds on the clock to draw up a final play with a chance to tie or take the lead at the buzzer. The Vikings managed to get two shots off on the possession, but neither of them fell as time expired and CSP escaped with a two-point victory.

The Golden Bears finished with one of their strongest shooting performances of the season, going 34-of-56 from the field to shoot 60.7 percent, its second 60-plus percent shooting night of the season. Augustana also shot the ball effectively, hitting on 41 of its 80 attempts (51.3%). The Golden Bears were 7-of-14 (50.0%) from beyond the arc while Augie was just 7-of-19 (36.8%). The free throw line once again provided an advantage for CSP with Concordia sinking 24-of-31 attempts while Augustana had just 10 attempts, making eight of them.

Tameron Ferguson scored 25 points on 111-of-17 shooting for Augustana, also adding four rebounds, three assists, and two steals.

The Golden Bears will hit the road for a NSIC contest at Minnesota State on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.