BEMIDJI, Minn. – On a bitterly cold night outside, the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (13-6, 8-5 NSIC) weathered a hot-shooting first half by Bemidji State (6-12, 3-10 NSIC) to beat the Beavers 99–95 for CSP's fifth straight victory.

The Beavers put together an efficient shooting performance in the first half, going 17-of-28 (60.7%) from the field and 5-of-11 (45.5%) from beyond the arc to lead by as many as nine before taking a four-point lead into halftime. Concordia flipped the script in the second half, going 16-of-24 (66.7%) from the field and 5-of-10 (50%) from deep to regain the lead late and hang on for yet another tight road win.

Junior Ben Kopetzki matched his career high in scoring for Concordia, posting a 34-point performance while shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. Kopetzki also led the team with six rebounds and five assists.

Senior Sam West made his return to the lineup for CSP after a five-game absence due to injury, scoring 24 points, 17 of which came in the second half, and adding four rebounds and two assists.

Owen Carlson scored 16 points and pulled down four boards for CSP, and Chet Kloss joined him in double figures with 12 points. Kloss was also active in other areas, tallying five rebounds, three assists, and three steals.

Concordia came out swinging early in the first half and built an 8-4 lead after both Wysocki and Carlson buried three pointers in the game's first three minutes, but Bemidji State got hot from there and put together a 17-4 scoring run in which they went 5-of-6 from the field to take a 21-12 lead. The Golden Bears managed to tie the game back up at 23 on a triple from Johnson each shortly after, but Bemidji State quickly regained the lead and held it for the duration of the half, eventually carrying a 49-45 advantage into the break.

The Beavers remained in control for the early portion of the second half, pushing their lead as high as nine points near the midpoint as they held a 66-57 lead with just over 11 minutes to play. Concordia went to work from there, putting together an extended 23-12 scoring run culminating with back-to-back three pointers from Carlson and Kopetzki to put the Bears back in front at 80-78 with under five minutes remaining.

That proved to be the game's final lead change as Concordia remained in the driver's seat until the final buzzer, leading by as many as 10 before a pair of BSU triples in the final 17 seconds cut the deficit to four just before the horn.

The Beavers, who entered the night with the worst turnover differential in the NSIC, continued to struggle to maintain possession, as Concordia won the turnover battle 19-11 and turned that into a 30-9 advantage in points off takeaways.

Redshirt freshman Ryan Johnson played a massive part in Concordia's turnover advantage, recording the second most steals in a game in CSP history with seven. 

Bemidji State guard John Pecarich was nearly unstoppable, scoring 47 points with a blistering 13-of-19 shooting performance that included a 9-of-13 mark from beyond the arc. His 47 points are fourth most by a player in all of Division II this season.

CSP's five game winning streak matches its longest since the 2016 season. 

The Golden Bears will wrap up their stretch of four straight road games tomorrow evening in Duluth, Minn. when they take on Minnesota Duluth at 5:30 p.m.