HAYS, Kan. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (1-0) opened the 2025-26 campaign with a 98-92 win over Nebraska-Kearney (1-3) at the NSIC/MIAA Challenge hosted by Fort Hays State at Gross Memorial Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears shot the ball well from deep, connecting on 12 three-pointers on 26 attempts (46.2%). The charity stripe provided another major advantage for CSP as the Bears went 24-35 at the foul line, while UNK was just 10-13. Concordia's bench gave CSP a massive spark, outscoring the Loper bench 42-30.

Sophomore guard Owen Carlson delivered the breakout performance of the day for Concordia, pouring in a career-high 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-6 from beyond the arc. He provided a spark throughout, scoring 10 of his points in the first half as CSP built a 50-48 lead at the break.

Guard Ben Kopetzki was steady and dynamic in the first game of his junior campaign, finishing with 21 points, four assists, and a pair of steals while converting 9-of-10 free throws. Forward Sam West made a major impact in multiple areas in his first game as a Golden Bear, adding 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and a steal across 33 minutes of action.

Senior Reid Patterson made a splash from the perimeter, scoring 18 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep, and junior Chet Kloss delivered an efficient 11 points and eight rebounds, knocking down both of his three-point attempts and going 4-of-5 from the field.

The Golden Bears came out swinging early in the contest as a three-pointer from Patterson gave Concordia its biggest lead of the first half at 34-23 with 8:32 on the clock, but UNK responded with an 18-7 scoring run covering more than five minutes to tie the game at 41 each. The teams went back and forth in the final minutes of the period, with Concordia eventually taking a 50-48 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Lopers flipped the script early in the second half, opening on a 17-7 surge to take their biggest lead of the game at 57-65 with 13:26 remaining. The Bears chipped away at the deficit in the following minutes, regaining the advantage at 74-73 thanks to a three-pointer from Kopetzki with 8:05 left in the game. Four quick lead changes followed, but it was Concordia maintaining a narrow lead throughout the final minutes of the game, eventually escaping with the six-point victory.

For the game, Concordia shot 31-of-66 (47.0%) from the floor and 12-of-26 (46.2%) from three, while Nebraska-Kearney went 37-of-78 (47.4%) and 8-of-23 (34.8%) from deep.

Nebraska-Kearney was powered by a trio of big performances: Ja'Bryant Hill scored a game-high 32 points, Anthony Swift added 27 points and eight rebounds, and Taylor Harrell contributed a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. UNK held a 46-39 rebounding advantage and outscored CSP 48-32 in the paint, but the Bears countered with efficiency and depth to seal the win. 

The Golden Bears will wrap up play at the NSIC/MIAA Challenge on Sunday afternoon when they take on host Fort Hays State at 2 p.m.