TOPEKA, Kan. – The fifth-seeded Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (22-9) saw its NCAA Tournament run come to an end on Sunday evening, falling 94-78 to fifth-ranked and top-seeded Washburn (28-3) in the regional semifinals inside a raucous Lee Arena.  

Concordia took an early lead in the game when senior Marcus Skeete buried a three pointer just over a minute into the game to put CSP up 3-2, but that proved to be the only lead the Golden Bears would hold in the opening frame as Washburn used a 22-8 run to take a 24-11 lead less than eight minutes into the game. Trailing by 14 near the midpoint of the half, Concordia put together a 17-4 scoring run to cut the deficit to a single point at 34-33 with 2:32 remaining in the half. Antwan Kimmons and Marcus Skeete were key contributors to the run, scoring seven and six points, respectively. The Ichabods expanded their advantage back to six by halftime, taking a 43-37 lead into the intermission.

 The Ichabods pushed their advantage to as many as 13 at 57-44 in the first five minutes of the second half, but an 18-8 scoring surge by the Golden Bears cut the deficit to just three at 65-62 with 9:57 on the clock. Chet Kloss provided a strong spark off the bench during the run, nailing a three pointer and sinking a driving layup on offense and blocking an Ichabod shot on the other end of the court. The back-and-forth continued from there, with Washburn restoring a double-digit lead at 74-64 with 7:06 to play. The Golden Bears never got the deficit below eight from that point forward, with Washburn eventually claiming the 16-point victory.

Senior guard Antwan Kimmons led the Golden Bears with 25 points in the final game of his collegiate career, also leading the team with seven rebounds and seven assists. Kimmons was 11-18 from the field and 1-2 from beyond the arc in the contest. Kimmons finishes the season with 781 points, shattering his own previous school record of 591 from 2022-23. Kimmons wraps up his career with 1496 points at Concordia, the fourth most in school history. His average of 25.2 points per game this season and his career average of 22.3 points per game are also both program records.

After being named NSIC Newcomer of the Year in his first season at CSP in 2022-23, Kimmons ends his career as the reigning NSIC Player of the Year, D2CCA Central Region Player of the Year, and a top 25 finalist for the Bevo Francis Award.

Senior Marcus Skeete was the second leading scorer for the Golden Bears, finishing with 17 points and four rebounds. Skeete finishes his career as CSP's all-time leader in games played (121) and games started (114) after playing five seasons in navy and gold. He ranks in the top five in program history in career minutes, points, and rebounds while ranking seventh in assists.

Senior Jappanah Kellogg was the only other Golden Bear in double figures, scoring 10 points and pulling down six rebounds with two assists and two steals in the final game of his collegiate career. Cade Meyer also played his final game at Concordia, scoring five points and pulling down four rebounds. Ian Sluice was the only other senior to see action for Concordia, pulling down one rebound for the Bears.

Kloss and Reid Patterson each finished with eight points off the bench for Concordia.

As a team, the Golden Bears shot 29-65 (44.6%) from the field and 7-of-24 (29.2%) from beyond the arc while the Ichabods were 33-62 (53.2%) overall and 9-17 (52.9%) from deep. Concordia outscored Washburn 12-10 on fast break opportunities, but the Ichabods countered with a 21-16 edge in bench points and a 10-8 advantage in second chance points.

Jacob Hanna finished with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists for Washburn while Jack Bachelor added 21 points, five assists, and three rebounds for the Ichabods. 

Washburn will now advance to the Central Region Championship where it will face MSU Moorhead on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Topeka.