ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (15-5, 10-4 NSIC) will play a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games this week, hosting Minnesota State (13-8, 9-4 NSIC) on Thursday before heading north for a game at Minnesota Duluth (13-6, 8-5 NSIC) on Saturday.

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LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears played a pair of road games in North Dakota last weekend, falling to #22 Minot State 92-78 on Saturday and defeating UMary 71-65 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.

MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears are seeking their first win over Minnesota State in over a decade, with Concordia's last victory over the Mavericks coming on December 20, 2014. MSU has won the last 20 straight meetings, with the Mavericks holding a 36-6 advantage in the all-time series and a 16-4 record at the Gangelhoff Center.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE MAVERICKS
When the Golden Bears and Mavericks last met on December 19 earlier this season, MSU came away with an 84-80 win on its home court.
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.

After a scoreless 1:30 of play to open the game, the Golden Bears found a nice groove as they connected on four of their next five field goal attempts to open a 12-3 lead less than five minutes into the game. The Mavericks struggled to shoot the ball early in the game, making just three of their first 20 field goal attempts. Concordia's lead continued to grow in the following minutes during the Maverick drought, peaking at 17 points with a 38-21 advantage with 4:25 on the clock. The Mavericks finally found something and put together a 16-8 run of their own to close the half, cutting the deficit to nine at 46-37 at the intermission.

The Golden Bears finished the half 17-of-32 (53.1%) from the field while the Mavericks went 15-of-35 (42.9%). Both teams were exactly 4-of-11 (36.4%) from beyond the arc. Concordia dominated the glass and shared the ball more effectively, holding a 23-14 rebounding advantage and a 10-8 edge in assists.

MSU continued to carry the late momentum surge into the opening minutes of the second half, scoring the first 13 points of the half in a run that lasted nearly four minutes to take a 50-46 lead.  The teams jockeyed back and forth with four lead changes in the following minutes, but it was the Mavericks grabbing the lead at 56-55 for what proved to be the final time with 13:05 on the clock.

The MSU lead reached double digits at 72-61 with just over six minutes remaining, but the Golden Bears battled back to make it a one-point game after a clutch three pointer from Kopetzki made it 80-79 with just 21 seconds left in regulation. Three alternating fouls, two by CSP and one by MSU, accompanied by trips to the free throw line followed, with Minnesota State's Kyreese Willingham knocking down a pair of free throws with just six seconds on the clock to restore the two-possession lead and put the game away.

Minnesota State's Justin Eagins led all players in the game with 23 points and eight rebounds.

MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears hold a 14-20 all-time record against the Bulldogs, including a mark of 6-10 in road games. CSP snapped a six-game losing streak to UMD earlier this season, defeating the Bulldogs 93-89 at the Gangelhoff Center on December 21, 2024.
 
LAST MEETING WITH THE BULLDOGS
The Golden Bears last played the Bulldogs on December 21 earlier this season, securing a 93-89 victory at the Gangelhoff Center.
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.

Kimmons got the Golden Bears on the board first with a layup just 15 seconds into the game, but that proved to be the only lead Concordia would hold throughout the first half as UMD used a 23-9 run covering more than seven minutes to open a 30-16 lead near the midpoint of the half. The Golden Bears regained momentum at that point, using a 25-11 run of their own covering more than eight minutes to tie the game at 41-41 with 2:36 on the clock. UMD managed to regain the lead in the waning minutes of the half, carrying a one-point advantage into the intermission at 45-44.

The Bulldogs carried the momentum early in the second half as they kept the Bears at arm's length and led by as many as eight points, but CSP turned the tide with a 10-4 run lasting just over three minutes that tied the game at 70 each with 7:46 remaining in regulation. Three additional ties followed before Concordia finally managed to break through and recapture the lead at 76-74 on a pair of free throws from Kellogg with 5:34 on the clock. Minnesota Duluth tied the game up on two subsequent occasions, but the Golden Bears did not trail the rest of the way as they outscored UMD 17-13 in the final five minutes en route to a 93-89 win.

Charlie Katona paced the Bulldogs with 29 points on 13-of-26 shooting while Joshua Brown added 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting.

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 86.4 points per game paces the NSIC and ranks 28th in all of Division II. Concordia also leads the league with 39.8 rebounds per game as a team, and ranks fourth with 14.5 assists per game. The Golden Bears' team field goal percentage of 49.2% also paces the conference and is 23^rd 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 23.6 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 seventh in the nation in points per game (24.2) 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 129 made free throws this season, and leads the nation with 173 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 24.2 points per game would be the second highest single-season mark in school history.

Marcus Skeete continues to be Concordia's top rebounder, pulling down an average of 7.5 per game, good for seventh most in the NSIC. Skeete enters the weekend with 691 rebounds in his career, good for fourth most in school history, and 1,477 career points, the fifth most in program history. 

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. With 988 points in his collegiate career including prior stops at Green Bay and Northern Kentucky, Meyer needs just 12 points to pass the 1,000 mark.