ST. PAUL, Minn. – In a wire-to-wire battle at the Gangelhoff Center on Wednesday evening, the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (6-2, 1-1 NSIC) came up just short in a 93-87 shootout against St. Cloud State (4-3, 2-0 NSIC) in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.

Both offenses were in rhythm from the opening tip, combining for 68 made field goals and 18 triples with both teams shooting over 50 percent from the field. St. Cloud State finished 37-of-73 (50.7%) from the floor and an efficient 10-of-21 (47.6%) from three, while CSP countered with 31-of-61 (50.8%) shooting, including 8-of-24 (33.3%) from deep, while going 17-of-25 (68.0%) at the free throw line.

The Huskies held a slight 39-37 rebounding advantage and manufactured 14 offensive boards that turned into 11 second-chance points. CSP's bench again made a major impact, outscoring SCSU's reserves 36–30. Concordia also made the most of fastbreak opportunities, outscoring the Huskies 21-8 in the category.

The first half unfolded at a blistering pace as both teams went blow-for-blow. In total, the opening 20 minutes contained five ties and a staggering 16 lead changes. Despite 19 St. Cloud State makes before the break, including seven threes, the Golden Bears kept themselves in it with an 11-0 advantage in fastbreak points and six triples of their own, trailing just 49-45 at halftime.

The Huskies threatened to pull away early in the second half as they pushed their advantage to seven points less than three minutes in, but an 8-0 scoring burst by the Golden Bears put CSP back on top at 59-58 just two minutes later. In total, the second half contained four ties and 10 more lead changes, but the Huskies jumped on top at 84-83 for what proved to be the final time with 3:34 to play, outscoring CSP 11-4 the rest of the way.

Sophomore Owen Carlson led the Golden Bears off the bench with 17 points and nine rebounds, continuing his hot shooting streak with a 6-of-11 performance, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.
Junior Ben Kopetzki paced CSP's starting five with 16 points, five assists, and three boards, while senior Sam West stuffed the stat sheet with 11 points, four steals, and five assists. Ryan Johnson and Chet Kloss chipped in 10 points and an assist each, with Kloss also grabbing four rebounds and two steals.

St. Cloud State was fueled by a massive performance from Luke Winkel, who finished with 29 points, six assists, and two rebounds. Kynan Phillippe added 21 points and six rebounds, and Anish Ramlall scored 16 points with five rebounds.

The loss by CSP continued a recent trend in the all-time series, as the road team has now won the last three meetings between the two teams. St. Cloud State now leads the series 28-9.

The Golden Bears will head south this weekend as they are set to take on Minnesota State at 1 p.m. on Saturday in Mankato, Minn.