ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (10-3, 5-2 NSIC) is set to open play in the 2025 calendar year on the road this weekend with games at #12 MSU Moorhead (10-2, 5-1 NSIC) on Friday and Northern State (1-11, 0-6 NSIC) on Saturday.

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LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears last played over the weekend of December 20, falling to Minnesota State 84-80 on the road and topping Minnesota Duluth 93-89 at the Gangelhoff Center.

In the loss to MSU, the Golden Bears controlled the entirety of the first half as they led by as many as 18 points before taking a 46-37 advantage into the break, but the Mavericks managed to outscore the Bears 47-34 in the second half to secure the come-from-behind win.

Concordia finished the game 45.6% (26-of-57) from the field while the Mavericks were slightly better at 45.8% (33-of-72). Neither team shot well from beyond the arc, with CSP connecting on 6-of-21 attempts (28.6%) and MSU going 5-of-19 (26.3%). Rebounding was dead even with 40 each while the Golden Bears held a 15-13 edge in assists. The Golden Bear bench provided an advantage for Concordia, outscoring that of the Mavericks 19-10. 

Senior forward Cade Meyer led the way for CSP on offense with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, also pulling down two rebounds.

Antwan Kimmons was just behind him with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Kimmons now sits just 10 points shy of 1,000 in his career at CSP as he looks to become the 20^th member of the 1,000-point club.

Sophomore Ben Kopetzki was the only other Golden Bear in double figures with 10 points, two rebounds, and three assists. The trio of Marcus Skeete, Ian Sluice, and Sean Mathieu added nine points each for Concordia.
 
In the win over UMD, the Golden Bears scored the first bucket of the game, but that would be the only lead they would hold in the first half as UMD took control and led by as many as 14 before Concordia stormed back to make it a one-point game at halftime. The Bears went on to tie the game at 70 each with 7:46 on the clock and recapture the lead soon after at 75-74. CSP never trailed from that point on, holding on for a four-point win.

Kimmons was sensational for the Golden Bears, posting his second 40-plus point game of the season and just the fourth in Golden Bear history with 40 points on 13-of-22 shooting to go along with 10 assists, eight rebounds, three steals, and a block. With his 10^th point of the afternoon, Kimmons became the 20^th member of CSP's 1,000-point club. Scoring 174 points in his three-year career at Northern Iowa before transferring to Concordia, the senior has now scored 1,204 total points in his collegiate career.

Ben Kopetzki was second on the score sheet for the Bears, logging 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and adding four rebounds and two assists. Cade Meyer also reached double figures with 11 points on a perfect 4-of-4 shooting performance from the field while adding five rebounds, two assists, and two blocks.

Marcus Skeete and Ian Sluice rounded out the starters for Concordia with eight and five points, respectively. Japannah Kellogg chipped in four points, three rebounds, three blocks, and a steal off the bench for CSP.

For the game, the Golden Bears outshot the Bulldogs 57.1% (32-of-56) to 48.1% (37-of-77) from the field and held a decisive 46.2% to 28.6% advantage from beyond the arc. UMD finished with a narrow 35-33 edge in rebounding, but the Bears had 16 assists to Minnesota Duluth's 13. Fast break opportunities provided another advantage for the Golden Bears as they outscored UMD 13-4 in fast break points.

MSU MOORHEAD SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have posted a 13-24 all-time record against the Dragons, including a mark of 4-16 in road matchups. The Dragons have taken the last five meetings, with CSP's last win over MSUM coming in December of 2017 at the Gangelhoff Center.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE DRAGONS
When the two teams last met on January 20, 2024, the Dragons escaped with a 79-72 win.

CSP remained within four with under three minutes to play, but they couldn't quite pull off the upset as MSUM picked up their 16^th win in 20 meetings in Moorhead and 24^th win in 37 meetings overall in the series.
 
Concordia's bench brigade provided a spark on the night as they outscored MSU Moorhead's reserves 30-11 in the contest, led by 13 points from John Grigsby and 12 from Reid Patterson. Grigsby hit 5-8 from the floor and 3-5 from beyond the arc while Patterson was a perfect 5-5 shooting and 2-2 from the line to go along with three boards.
 
The Golden Bears made the Dragons work for their points as they limited the hosts to 43.8% (28-64) from the floor and 20.0% (4-20) from deep on the night while they hit 45.6% (26-57) and 43.8% (7-16), respectively, on the other end. The difference of the game came in the paint and in the turnover column as MSUM finished with a 46-28 advantage in the paint to go along with a 21-11 edge in points off turnovers to aid their effort.
 
Ben Kopetzki and Marcus Skeete gave the Golden Bears four players in double figures as Kopetzki knocked down 6-7 from the charity stripe to lead the team with 15 points while Skeete added 13 on 6-11 shooting. Kopetzki chipped in three rebounds, three assists and two steals as well.

NORTHERN STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears hold a 7-34 all-time record versus the Wolves, including a mark of 1-22 in matchups in Aberdeen, S.D. NSU has won nine of the last 10 meetings, with Concordia's last win over the Wolves coming in 2016 at the Gangelhoff Center.

LAST MEETING WITH THE WOLVES
In the lone meeting between the two teams last season, Northern State claimed a 94-89 overtime win on January 19 in Aberdeen, S.D.

The Golden Bears led the contest for nearly two-thirds of the play and trailed for less than 20 percent in a contest that featured a large lead of just seven points, a 65-58 CSP advantage with 8:21 to play in the contest. Northern State's largest margin was the final score, six points as the event featured 14 ties and 13 lead changes.
 
Concordia set the tone early, building a 6-0 lead in the opening three and a half minutes while stifling Northern State to 0-8 shooting to start the contest on their home nets. The early spurt by CSP featured a pair of dunks by Kellogg, who was abusive towards the Wachs Arena rims all evening on his way to the career-high scoring output.
 
His 13-for-13 performance tops CSP's Division II-era and recorded history for most made field goals without a miss, a feat that had been achieved with a minimum of eight on three occasions, with Isaiah Thomas holding the prior record at 9-9 against Judson University (Ill.) on December 18, 2009.
 
As the first half unfolded, it was clear that the game would continue on its course, with Concordia grabbing its first 7-point lead at 38-31 with 3:40 to play in the half before the Wolves closed strong before the break with Concordia hanging onto a 41-39 halftime lead.
 
In the first half, CSP out-shot NSU 56.3 percent (18-32) to 42.1 percent (16-38), but CSP managed to hit just two of its nine three-pointers while the Wolves were able to convert five times from deep on 15 attempts.
 
In the second half, Concordia extended its lead back to six in the early minutes on a pair of three-pointers for a 47-41 advantage.
 
Once again, Northern State answered, narrowing the gap to one point again, 49-48 with 16:33 to play but this time the momentum shifted towards the home team in a big way as senior guard Jordan Horn went down with an apparent injury and would not return.
 
Horn, who entered play leading the team with 21.7 points per game, finished the evening with 10 points and six rebounds with the Golden Bears holding a +7 in his 17:28 of action. His second of two assists on the night was a poetic feed in the lane set up another Kellogg dunk just a minute prior.
 
Their leading scorer sidelined, the team defense scrapped for a pair of stops, with Kellogg finishing in the lane once again for a 51-48 lead.
 
A quick 5-0 burst by the Wolves was the first of four lead changes in a three and a half minute stretch of play approaching the midway point of the second half. Trailing 58-57 after the Wolves buried a three-pointer, a pair of free throws by Marcus Skeete would be the fourth lead change of the sequence and opened up an 8-0 scoring stretch that put Concordia ahead 65-58, their second 7-point lead of the night, with just over eight minutes remaining.
 
Skeete had four points during the run as CSP held Northern State to 0-3 shooting (all three-point attempts) and a turnover, as CSP went 2-2 from the floor and 4-4 at the foul line to take charge.
 
Skeete finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists while clocking 43 minutes of playing time in a solid effort.

STAT LEADERS
The Golden Bears continue to rank highly on the conference and national statistics leaderboards in many important categories, particularly on offense.

As a team, CSP's scoring average of 88.8 points per game paces the NSIC and ranks 19^th in all of Division II. Concordia also leads the conference on the glass with an average of 39.54 rebounds per game.
 
The Golden Bears have been successful in drawing defensive contact throughout the season, taking more trips to the free throw line than anyone else in the NSIC with an average of 24.8 attempts per game at the charity stripe.

Fresh off his second 40 plus-point game of the season that officially made him  the 20^th member of CSP's 1,000-point club, Antwan Kimmons has led the way for Concordia's explosive offense, scoring 24.2 points per game to pace the NSIC and rank seventh in all of Division II. Kimmons also leads the league and sits second in the nation with 107 made field goals this season.

Marcus Skeete has been Concordia's top rebounder, pulling down an average of 7.9 per game, good for sixth most in the NSIC. His four double-doubles this season are tied for second most in the conference.

Senior forward Cade Meyer's field goal percentage of 70.1% is good for second in the conference and sixth in all of Division II so far this year.