ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (9-6, 4-5 NSIC) ended its three-game slide and got back in the win column with a 102-89 Northern Sun victory over MSU Moorhead (8-7, 5-4 NSIC) on Friday evening at the Gangelhoff Center.
The win secured a regular season sweep of the Dragons for CSP, as Concordia also claimed a 111-108 overtime victory over MSU Moorhead at the Gangelhoff Center in November earlier this season. The victory also improved Concordia's home record to 5-2 this season.
The Golden Bears were red hot in the opening half, knocking down 61.3% of their attempts from the field to carry a 54-37 lead into the break. A second-half run by the Dragons cut the deficit to just five with 12:19 to play, but the Golden Bears reestablished control and dominated the game's final 10 minutes to secure the commanding win.
Junior
Ben Kopetzki, who became the 21
st member of CSP's 1,000-point club on the road last week at Winona State, tied for the team lead with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while adding four rebounds and four assists. Senior
Reid Patterson matched him with a season-high 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
Ryan Johnson had a career night for Concordia, posting a new high in scoring with 20 points on an efficient 4-of-6 from the field and 11-of-13 from the free throw line. The Redshirt freshman also pulled down seven boards and tallied four assists and a steal.
Jaden Wysocki and
Owen Carlson added nine points each for Concordia, and
Patrick Bath led the CSP reserves with eight points and six rebounds.
Concordia worked out to an early advantage and led by as many as 11 in the first half, but the Dragons pulled within five points at 34-29 with just over five minutes on the clock. The Golden Bears controlled the remainder of the period, outscoring the Dragons 20-8 in the final five minutes to take a 54-37 lead into the locker room at halftime. CSP was highly efficient in the half, knocking down 19 of their 31 attempts (61.3%) from the field while limiting MSU Moorhead to 12-of-25 (48.0%).
The Dragons chipped away at the CSP lead early in the second half, using a 16-5 run covering more than six minutes to pull within five points once again at 61-56 with 12:19 to play. Concordia responded with a quick 9-2 scoring burst to restore a double-digit advantage that would hold for the remainder of the contest.
For the game, CSP finished 50.9% (29-of-57) from the field while MSU Moorhead was 48.2% (27-of-56). Concordia also boasted a 41-31 edge in rebounding. Both teams spent significant time at the charity stripe, with 55 combined fouls and 78 combined free throw attempts, the most in a CSP game since the 2014-15 season. Concordia's 41 free throw attempts were its most since February 12, 2016 when it also had 41 in a game against Upper Iowa, and its 31 makes were the most since January 10, 2015 when it had 33 against Wayne State.
The Dragons were led by Isa El-Amin with 19 points and three rebounds, while Dominic Gooden added 17 points off the bench.
The Golden Bears will close out the weekend home stand on Saturday at 2 p.m. when they host Minnesota Crookston (3-12, 1-8 NSIC).
