MOORHEAD, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (11-3, 6-2 NSIC) opened the 2025 calendar year with road game at #12 MSU Moorhead (10-3, 5-2 NSIC) on Friday evening, topping the Dragons 93-87 for the program's third win over a top-25 opponent this season.
With the win over the 12th-ranked Dragons, the Golden Bears, who received five votes in the most recent NABC Coaches Poll, have now collected three wins over top-25 opponents this season after topping #16 Fort Hays State 82-68 in November and beating #18 Southwest Minnesota State 92-85 in December.
After trailing by double digits early in the opening half, the Golden Bears offense came alive and battled back to hold a seven-point lead at halftime. Concordia's lead grew to as many as 16 midway through the second half, but the Dragons managed to cut the deficit to single digits in the game's final minutes before the buzzer sounded with CSP on top 93-87.
Senior guard Antwan Kimmons carried over his dominant play into the new year, matching his career high with 43 points, the second most in school history, on 16-of-35 shooting to go along with six rebounds, three assists, and a steal for his second consecutive game with 40-plus points and his third of the season. Kimmons now owns three of Concordia's five all-time 40-plus point performances, and is the only Golden Bear with more than one such game in his career.
Swingman Marcus Skeete was Concordia's second leading scorer with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting while pulling down seven rebounds and adding an assist and a steal. Senior forward Cade Meyer had another efficient outing, scoring 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting while leading the team with eight rebounds.
Ben Kopetzki and Ian Sluice rounded out Concordia's starting five with seven and two points, respectively. Reid Patterson and Will Boser provided CSP's only bench points of the evening with three each.
The Dragons worked out to a 19-8 lead early in the first half, but the Golden Bears settled in and found a groove with a 13-0 scoring run that put them on top 21-19 with 8:40 remaining in the half. Concordia continued to roll throughout the remainder of the half, using another 20-9 run lasting more than six minutes to lead by as many as 11 and eventually take a 43-36 lead into the intermission.
The Bears outshot the Dragons 47.5% (19-of-40) to 42.4% (14-of-33) in the opening half while rebounds and assists were dead even between the teams at 20 and three each, respectively.
The Golden Bear advantage continued to grow early in the second half, peaking at 16 points with CSP leading 70-54 with 9:16 on the clock. The Golden Bears clung to a narrow double-digit lead in the following minutes as they worked to fight off a surge from the Dragons, but MSUM finally broke through with a layup that cut the deficit to nine with 1:56 to play. The Dragons managed to make it a six-point game on two separate occasions in the final two minutes of the contest, but the effort proved to be too little, too late as Concordia came away with the 93-87 victory.
For the game, the Golden Bears shot 35-of-75 (46.7%) from the field and 8-of-19 (42.1%) from beyond the arc while the Dragons went 33-of-68 (48.5%) overall and 6-of-17 (35.3%) from deep. MSUM narrowly outrebounded CSP 41-38 and held a 9-6 edge in assists. Concordia dominated the turnover battle, committing just six to MSU Moorhead's 12 to outscore the Dragons 12-7 in points off turnovers. Fast break opportunities provided another advantage for the Golden Bears as they outscored the Dragons 12-3 in the category.
The Dragons were led by the duo of Carson Johnson and Logan Kinsey on offense with 23 and 20 points, respectively. Jacob Jenissen added a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double for MSUM.
The Golden Bears will be back in action tomorrow with another NSIC bout at Northern State (1-12, 0-7 NSIC) in Aberdeen, S.D. with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.
