ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (14-4, 9-3 NSIC) will hit the road for a pair of games in North Dakota this weekend, taking on No. 22 Minot State (18-3, 9-3 NSIC) on Friday in Minot, N.D. and UMary (4-17, 2-10 NSIC) on Saturday in Bismarck, N.D.

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IN THE POLLS
In the most recent NABC Coaches Poll, Minot State fell eight spots to No. 22 while the Golden Bears received a season-high 10 votes.

LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears hosted a pair of NSIC opponents at the Gangelhoff Center last weekend, topping Minnesota Crookston 93-68 on Friday and defeating Bemidji State 70-68 on Saturday.

The Golden Bears dominated Friday night's contest against the Golden Eagles, claiming their second largest margin of victory this season with a 25-point win.

CSP never trailed in the wire-to-wire victory, jumping out to an early 9-3 lead and expanding the advantage to 22 points at 48-26 at the intermission. The lead grew slightly in the second half, peaking at 26 before Concordia claimed the dominant 25-point win.

Senior guard Antwan Kimmons was extremely efficient in his 25 minutes, leading the team with 28 points on 12-of-18 shooting to go along with seven rebounds three assists, and a steal. Sophomore guard Ben Kopetzki also had a strong outing, leading the team with eight assists while scoring 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field and pulling down three rebounds.

Cade Meyer scored 13 points and pulled down three rebounds while Marcus Skeete added 10 points and seven boards. Ian Sluice rounded out the starting five with five points, five assists, and two rebounds.

Japannah Kellogg had his strongest game of the season off the bench, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and leading the team with nine rebounds.

Saturday's win over Bemidji State was a tighter contest, with senior Marcus Skeete knocking down four clutch free throws in the final 12 seconds to ice the win for the Bears.

Concordia led for a majority of the opening half, leading by as many as 12 before taking a 38-31 advantage into the intermission. The Bears never surrendered the lead in the second half, but a late push by the Beavers made things interesting as BSU pulled within a single point on a three pointer with just four seconds on the clock. A pair of clutch free throws from Skeete followed, putting the final nail in the coffin as Concordia hung on for the 70-68 win.

Skeete led the way for Concordia, going a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe, and scoring 20 points while pulling down seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Ben Kopetzki was next on the box score with 14 points, three rebounds, and an assist.

Antwan Kimmons was the only other Golden Bear in double figures, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds, and a team-leading five assists.

Senior Cade Meyer was the leading rebounder for Concordia, pulling down eight rebounds and adding nine points on 4-of-7 shooting. Japannah Kellogg provided a spark off the bench for the Bears, knocking down both of his attempts from the field and all four of his free throws for eight points and two rebounds.

MINOT STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears and Beavers have only met 12 times prior to this weekend's tilt, with Minot State holding a 9-3 advantage in the all-time series. Concordia will be looking for its first ever win in Minot, with the Bears currently holding an 0-6 record against the Beavers at the Minot State Dome. The Beavers took both games between the teams last season, with CSP's last win over Minot State coming in January of 2023 at the Gangelhoff Center.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE BEAVERS
The Golden Bears and Beavers faced off twice last year, with Minot State winning both contests. In their most recent meeting on February 17, 2024, Minot State came away with a 70-67 victory on its home court.

With the Golden Bears holding a 49-40 lead with 17:21 left in the contest, the Marauders caught fire as they hit 19 of their final 25 shots and 15-19 from the free throw line to compile a 55-23 run to claim their first conference win of 2024. The loss was just CSP's fourth in the last 15 meetings between the two schools as they dropped to 17-10 in the all-time series.
 
Concordia continued to fire early and often from beyond the arc as they hit 14 threes for the fifth time on the season and second game in a row. It was their seventh time clearing double digits in their past eight contests. CSP was especially effective from deep before the break as they hit 9-19 (47.4%) in the first half before finishing the night at 14-36 (38.9%). They nearly tripled up UMary from beyond the arc as the Marauders were held to 5-16 (31.3%) from three-point range.
 
John Grigsby played a big role in the success from beyond the arc as he connected on 7-11 from three-point range to lead all players with 22 points. His seven made threes fell just one shy of the school record, matching the highest total since 2009.
 
Grigsby, along with Sean Mathieu and Ben Kopetzki, combined for 56 of the team's 74 points as the trio carried the load offensively. Mathieu hit 6-10 from the floor to tally 18 points, four boards and three assists while Kopetzki chipped in 16 points, five rebounds and five assists on the night.
 
The University of Mary found their edge down low as they held a 48-20 advantage in points in the paint while they added a 39-22 edge in rebounding in the win.

UMARY SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears have controlled the series, holding a 17-8 all-time record against the Marauders. In road games, CSP has gone 8-4. The teams split the two-game series last season, with the home team winning on each occasion.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE MARAUDERS
The Golden Bears last played the Marauders on February 16, 2024, falling 95-74 in Bismarck, N.D.  

With the Golden Bears holding a 49-40 lead with 17:21 left in the contest, the Marauders caught fire as they hit 19 of their final 25 shots and 15-19 from the free throw line to compile a 55-23 run to claim their first conference win of 2024. The loss was just CSP's fourth in the last 15 meetings between the two schools as they dropped to 17-10 in the all-time series.
 
Concordia continued to fire early and often from beyond the arc as they hit 14 threes for the fifth time on the season and second game in a row. It was their seventh time clearing double digits in their past eight contests. CSP was especially effective from deep before the break as they hit 9-19 (47.4%) in the first half before finishing the night at 14-36 (38.9%). They nearly tripled up UMary from beyond the arc as the Marauders were held to 5-16 (31.3%) from three-point range.
 
John Grigsby played a big role in the success from beyond the arc as he connected on 7-11 from three-point range to lead all players with 22 points. His seven made threes fell just one shy of the school record, matching the highest total since 2009.
 
Grigsby, along with Sean Mathieu and Ben Kopetzki, combined for 56 of the team's 74 points as the trio carried the load offensively. Mathieu hit 6-10 from the floor to tally 18 points, four boards and three assists while Kopetzki chipped in 16 points, five rebounds and five assists on the night.
 
The University of Mary found their edge down low as they held a 48-20 advantage in points in the paint while they added a 39-22 edge in rebounding in the win.

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 87.7 points per game paces the NSIC and ranks 18th in all of Division II. Concordia also leads the league with 39.9 rebounds per game as a team, and ranks third with 14.7 assists per game. The Golden Bears' team field goal percentage of 49.5% also paces the conference and is 21st in all of Division II.
 
The Golden Bears have been successful in drawing defensive contact throughout the season, ranking second in the league with an average of 24.1 free throw attempts per game.

Senior guard Antwan Kimmons has been one of the top players in all of NCAA Division II so far this season, leading the NSIC and ranking fourth in the nation in points per game (25.2) while pacing the league and sitting 12^th in Division II with 5.8 assists per game. The senior sits second in all of Division II with 120 made free throws this season, and leads the nation with 160 free throw attempts . Kimmons has scored 40 or more points three times so far this season, including a pair of 43-point performances, and is the only Golden Bear with more than one such game in his career. His current scoring average of 25.2 points per game would be the highest single-season mark in school history. On December 21, Kimmons' 40-point game against Minnesota Duluth made him the 20th member of CSP's 1,000-point club. 

Marcus Skeete has been Concordia's top rebounder, pulling down an average of 7.5 per game, good for seventh most in the NSIC.

Senior forward Cade Meyer's field goal percentage of 66.1% is good for second in the conference and 12th in all of Division II so far this year.