ST. PAUL, Minn. - Despite trailing for the first 36-plus minutes of play, Concordia-St. Paul (14-7, 9-6 NSIC) chipped away at a 14-point first-half deficit, pulling out a 91-88 win on Friday night at Gangelhoff Center over Minot State (8-13, 5-10 NSIC). 

The Golden Bears will face their final NSIC North Division opponent UMary (5-16, 3-12 NSIC) on Saturday at 4 p.m. With the win, CSP improves to 9-6 in conference play, part of a three-team tie for fourth-place in the overall league standings which was a four-team tie prior to tonight's games. 

Junior guard Ben Kopetzki poured in 27 points, eight assists, six rebounds and drew seven fouls to get to the foul line 14 times, making 13. He was 4-7 from the arc including a go-ahead three-pointer to give CSP its final lead with 2:39 to play. Senior transfer Sam West (Minot State) had the go-ahead assist with 3:47 to play and hit a dagger three-pointer for a 4-point lead with two minutes left against his former squad.

The Golden Bears got off to a sluggish start in a fast-paced, physical contest, hitting just 6-of-15 inside the arc in the first half. But 6-of-13 three-point shooting before the break combined with 8-of-8 foul shooting helped CSP stay within single digits 45-38 at the half. Minot State started hot, scoring the first seven points of the game and using an 8-0 run in the middle of the first half to take a 33-19 lead with 8:31 to play in the half.

The Beavers shot 53.3 percent (16-30) from the floor, 40.0 percent (4-10) from three and 9-9 from the stripe in the half.

Concordia still trailed by 10, 43-33, with 1:22 to go in the half, but a pair of Kopetzki free throws and a Ryan Johnson three-pointer closed it to single digits with Minot State scoring just before the break for the 7-point margin.

The Golden Bears came out hot in the second half, closing the gap to one, 45-44, on Owen Carlson's jumper to cap an 11-2 scoring run. But every time CSP would close the gap, Minot State seemed to have an answer, pushing the margin back to eight with seven-straight points.

Concordia cut it back to one point again with 13:47 to play in the game on a pair of Kopetzki free throws to make it 55-54 with the Beavers once again answering with eight-straight points and a nine-point lead with 12:23 to play.

CSP still trailed by seven, 78-71, with just under six minutes left in the contest when the Golden Bears put their foot on the gas, first cutting the margin to one on Reid Patterson's turn-around jumper with 4:45 to go (78-77) before Sam West found a cutting Chet Kloss through the lane for a finish at the rim a minute later to give Concordia its first lead of the night, 81-80 with 3:47 to play.

Minot State answered with a Deuce Benjamin step-back three-pointer on the next possession. He would finish with 19 points although CSP bottled him up for 6-20 shooting and four turnovers. 

Trailing by two, CSP came up with an empty offensive possession but Kloss and Kopetzki combined for an aggressive double-team outside the arc with Kloss forcing the steal and Kopetzki burying a three-pointer in transition on a feed from Kloss for the game's third and final possession change with 2:39 remaining. 

CSP picked up another steal as Owen Carlson tapped an errant lob pass from the baseline to the top of the key, hustling into CSP's frontcourt with the ball going out of bounds off Minot State.

On the ensuing possession, Kopetzki found an open Sam West in the corner, burying the three-pointer and giving his new team a 4-point lead over his old team,88-84 with two minutes to play.

Concordia made two of its next four free throws allowing the Beavers some late life with Isaiah Alexander hitting a three-pointer in transition with less than a second to play. Kopetzki took a clean inbounds pass, drew a foul and made both free throws with 0.3 seconds to play for a three-point lead and Minot State out of timeouts forced to inbound from the opposite end of the floor. Carlson nabbed the baseball-style throw for his fourth steal of the night to seal the win.

Carlson had a big night, scoring 19 points despite first-half foul trouble limiting his minutes. He was 7-9 from the field, knocked down both of his three-pointers. West had another all-around performance, scoring 10 points, adding six rebounds (four offensive), three assists and a steal. Reid Patterson, who missed the last few games, returned to the lineup and scored 10 points off the bench including 2-4 from three-point range. 

Jaden Wysocki, like West, also had the opportunity to face his former squad, scoring five points including a three-pointer, and collecting six rebounds. Kloss and Johnson each scored eight points, as well.

The Golden Bears shot slightly better in the second half (46.9%) than the first (42.9%) from the field, but continued stellar three-point efficiency with a repeat of the 6-13 (46.2%) distance shooting. CSP converted 17-23 from the stripe in the second half, as well, putting up a +7 in scoring over Minot State (10-15) in second half free throw shooting.

For the night, each team shot 40-plus percent from the arc with CSP hitting 12-26 (46.2%) to Minot State's 9-21 (42.9%). 

The Golden Bears were able to take care of the ball, committing just eight turnovers including only three in the second half as CSP outscored Minot State 19-8 off turnovers while Patterson and the CSP bench outscored Minot State's bench 22-6.

All five of Minot State's starters scored in double-figures on the evening led by Trey Brandt's 21 points on 7-11 shooting including 4-5 from distance while Darik Dissette filled the sheet with 15 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals.