MARSHALL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (18-8, 13-7 NSIC) handed Southwest Minnesota State (15-10, 13-7 NSIC) a Valentine's Day heartbreak on Saturday evening, claiming a 78-69 wire-to-wire win over the Mustangs on their home floor.

The victory, which pulled Concordia even with SMSU at 13-7 in conference play, could prove crucial for CSP as it looks to improve its seeding in the upcoming NSIC Men's Basketball Tournament. With two games to play in the regular season, the Golden Bears and Mustangs are now locked in a tie for third place in the conference and firmly in contention for a first-round bye in the tournament, with Minnesota State lurking just behind them in fifth place with a 12-8 NSIC record. The top four teams in the final standings will receive a first-round tournament bye. 

Reid Patterson led the Golden Bears on offense with 21 points while pulling down four rebounds. The senior put together another highly efficient 7-11 shooting performance, including a 4-6 shooting line from outside the arc. After scoring 22 points in Thursday's win over Sioux Falls, Patterson has now scored 20 or more points in consecutive games twice this season, and has eclipsed 20 points in six games in total.

Junior Ben Kopetzki finished as the game's second leading scorer, tallying 20 points on 7-12 shooting and 5-9 from deep while adding two rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Sophomore Owen Carlson was the only other Golden Bear in double figures, scoring 12 points with five rebounds. Jaden Wysocki finished with nine points and three rebounds, and Sam West dished out eight assists and added five points, three rebounds, and two steals.

The Golden Bears came out swinging in the first half, using early three pointers from Sam West and Jaden Wysocki to score the game's first six points. Concordia continued to grow its lead in the following minutes, carving out a 28-14 advantage with 8:13 remaining in the half. The Mustangs took control late in the half, using a 20-8 scoring run down the stretch to cut the deficit to just two points at 36-34 before the intermission.  

The Mustangs kept the game close in the early stages of the second half as they trailed by just three points at 44-41 with 14:26 remaining in regulation, but Concordia put together an 8-0 scoring run throughout the next three minutes with five points from Patterson and three from Wysocki to restore a double-digit advantage at 52-41. Concordia's lead grew to as many as 15 and never dipped below seven from that point on as the Bears cruised to the nine-point win.

As a team, Concordia shot 46.7% (28-60) from the field and 43.8% (14-32) from deep, while SMSU shot 48.1% (26-54) overall and 37.9% (11-29) from beyond the arc.

The Golden Bears turned Valentine's Day into a feast, capitalizing on several Mustang miscues by converting 14 SMSU turnovers into 14 points, while committing just eight turnovers of their own.

Mekhi Shaw led the Mustangs with 18 points, and Micah Schlaak added 13 points and six rebounds.

Concordia now has just two regular season games remaining as it prepares to play at conference-leading St. Cloud State (21-5, 18-2 NSIC), winners of 14 straight games, on Wednesday and host Minnesota State (18-10, 12-8 NSIC) on Saturday next week.