MANKATO, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (7-2, 2-1 NSIC) got back in the win column on Saturday afternoon with an 89-77 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victory over Minnesota State (6-5, 0-3 NSIC) at the Taylor Center.

The win was just Concordia's third all-time in Mankato, and the first since December 9, 2011. The Mavericks now lead the all-time series 36-8, including a mark of 19-3 on their home court. The Golden Bears have now won two straight in the series after defeating Minnesota State 93-71 in January of last season at the Gangelhoff Center. 

Redshirt freshman Ryan Johnson got the Bears off to a strong start in the first half, nabbing a steal on MSU's opening possession and cashing it in for a triple on a pass from junior Chet Kloss to give CSP a 3-0 lead. The Mavericks kept it close and managed to tie the game at both 11 and 14 each, but Concordia never trailed and dominated the final 10 minutes of the half, outscoring the Mavericks 23-10 down the stretch to take a 47-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Golden Bear lead peaked at 19 early in the second half following a three pointer from Jaden Wysocki that made it 57-38 with 17:56 to play. The Mavericks found an offensive spark at that point, controlling the following eight minutes of play with a 28-13 run that included 11 free throws to cut the deficit all the way down to four at 70-66 with 9:31 on the clock. The Mavericks were able to keep it close in the following minutes, still trailing by just four at 81-77 with just over three minutes to play. Concordia dominated the final three minutes of the game, however, closing on an 8-0 run to secure the double-digit victory.

Junior Ben Kopetzki clocked out as the scoring leader for Concordia, putting up 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Senior Sam West put together the best performance of his NCAA career, tallying a career-high 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and five steals. His five steals match the most by a Golden Bear this season and are tied for the 12^th most in a single game in program history.

Johnson was the third leading scorer for CSP with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Wysocki finished with 11 points on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting performance while pulling down four rebounds. Kloss rounded out Concordia's starting five with eight points and four rebounds, and sophomore Owen Carlson led the charge off the bench with five points and three rebounds.

As a team, the Golden Bears shot 30-of-60 (50%) from the field and 10-of-23 (43.5%) from beyond the arc, while limiting the Mavericks to 25-of-57 (43.9%) overall and just 4-of-15 (26.7%) from deep. The Bears had an advantage in most other statistical categories as well, leading in rebounds (36-30), assists (14-11), steals (12-9), and fastbreak points (19-6).

The Golden Bears will host a pair of NSIC foes at the Gangelhoff Center next weekend, taking on Southwest Minnesota State at 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sioux Falls at 2 p.m. on Sunday.