ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-15, 4-14 NSIC) led at the half before Sioux Falls (12-11, 8-7 NSIC) turned the tide in the second half to hand CSP a 76-67 loss on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center.
 
USF made it 13 wins in the past 14 meetings as the Golden Bears dropped to 7-24 in the all-time series between the two schools.
 
For the first time in six games, Concordia was held to single digits from beyond the arc as the Cougars limited CSP to 5-18 (27.8%) from three-point range and 23-58 (39.7%) overall from the field. It was a defensive battle on both ends as the Golden Bears limited USF to 43.1% (28-65) shooting and 37.5% (6-16) from deep in the loss.
 
CSP did manage a 41-37 edge in rebounding while the Cougars used a 44-28 advantage in points in the paint to aid their effort.
 
Junior Marcus Skeete continued to do it all for Concordia as he tallied his sixth double-double and fourth 20-10 performance of the season as he led all players with 21 points and 10 rebounds while dishing out three assists and grabbing a pair of steals. He collected 17 of his 21 points before the break and he hit 7-17 from the floor and 7-10 from the line on the night.
 
Ben Kopetzki wasn't far behind as he put up 17 points on 7-16 shooting while pulling down three boards. John Grigsby just missed double figures with nine points on 3-5 shooting and 2-4 from three-point range off the bench.
 
Noah Puetz paced the Cougars with 19 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists while Shawn Warrior had 16 points, seven boards and three assists in the win.
 
The Golden Bears jumped out to an early lead with eight of the first 10 points of the contest, but the Cougars answered right back with a 9-0 run to build an 11-8 advantage four minutes into the contest. CSP regained the lead a few minutes later at 14-13 before a 7-1 run matched their largest lead of the half at 26-20 at the 9:00 mark. With the lead still at six at 30-24, USF rattled off a 9-2 burst to jump back out front at 33-32 before four points the other way set up a 38-37 Concordia lead after 20 minutes of play.
 
After six lead changes in the opening half, the lead changed hands for the seventh and final time of the night with the first bucket of the second half as USF made it an 11-1 run to take the lead for good at 46-39. With the deficit still at four at 48-44 with 15:25 to play, Sioux Falls scored 12 of the next 17 to push it to double figures at 60-49 just over three minutes later. The lead remained in double figures at 64-54 just past the midway point of the half, but the Golden Bears wouldn't go away as Grigsby picked up three the old-fashioned way before knocking one down from beyond the arc for a 6-0 run of his own, trimming it to four at 64-60 with 7:02 left. That would be all the closer they would get, however, as the Cougars rattled off a 10-2 run to put it out of reach as they secured the 76-67 win.
 
The Golden Bears will take on Southwest Minnesota State tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. to wrap up play at Gangelhoff Center this weekend.