ST. PAUL, Minn.  – Despite a furious comeback bid that saw them erase an 11-point second-half deficit to tie the game with under two minutes remaining, the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (12-4, 7-3 NSIC) dropped a 93-89 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference contest to St. Cloud State (10-7, 6-3 NSIC) at the Gangelhoff Center on Wednesday evening.

In the first half, the Golden Bears battled back from an early 11-point hole to trail by four points at 38-34 at halftime. The Huskies continued to carry the lead throughout the entirety of the second half with their advantage peaking at 11 points once again, but the Golden Bears mounted another response to tie the game at 84 each with just 1:44 to play. That proved to be all they could do as St. Cloud State quickly regained the lead and held on for a 93-89 lead.

The reigning NABC/D2CIDA National Player of the Week, senior guard Antwan Kimmons filled up the box score once again with 31 points, nine assists, six rebounds, and a steal. Kimmons finished the night 9-of-23 from the field and 11-of-16 from the free throw line. The senior has now scored 30 or more points in a game 11 times in his career at CSP, the most by any player in program history.

Junior guard Reid Patterson made his first start of the season, scoring a season-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and a steal. Senior forward Cade Meyer neared a double-double, scoring 13 points on 6-of-11 shooting while leading the team with nine rebounds and adding a pair of blocks. Senior guard Ian Sluice joined them in double figures with 12 points and two rebounds.

With St. Cloud State holding an 18-16 lead with 13:22 remaining in the first half, the Huskies put together an 11-2 run lasting 4:34 to open a double-digit lead at 29-18. The Golden Bears found a groove later in the half, closing with a 13-4 run of their own spanning nearly five minutes that made it 48-44 in favor of SCSU at the intermission.

The Golden Bears struggled to shoot the ball in the first half, going just 9-of-31 (29.0%) from the field while St. Cloud State was 16-of-33 (48.5%). The Huskies also narrowly outrebounded the Golden Bears 20-19 in the half and held an 11-5 edge in assists.

In the early minutes of the second half, the Golden Bears managed to cut the deficit to a single point on three separate occasions. The Huskies fended off each CSP run, managing to maintain the lead and push it back to 11 points at 72-61 with 8:32 on the clock. Concordia went to work late in the half with a 16-7 scoring run that lasted nearly four minutes to tie the game at 84-84 with just 1:44 to play. That proved to be as close as the Golden Bears would come to having the lead all night, with St. Cloud State getting the next two baskets to regain the advantage and hold it for the duration of the contest, eventually escaping with a 93-89 win.

The Golden Bears finished the game 30-of-69 from the field (43.5%) and 10-of-29 (34.5%) from deep while St. Cloud State was 33-of-61 (54.1%) from the field and 5-of-13 (38.5%) from beyond the arc. CSP won the battle on the glass by the slimmest of margins, outrebounding the Huskies 38-37 in the game with a 14-10 edge in offensive boards that led to a 15-12 scoring advantage in second chance points. The Golden Bears also won the turnover battle, committing just five to SCSU's nine to outscore the Huskies 12-8 in points off turnovers.

St. Cloud State was led by freshman Luke Finkel as he poured in 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with eight assists and five rebounds. Sophomore Wyatt Hawks was not far behind with 19 points, seven rebounds, two blocks, and an assist.

Concordia will now have the weekend off, returning to action on Friday, January 17 when they host Minnesota Crookston at 5:30 p.m.