ST. PAUL, Minn. – The third-seeded Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (19-9, 14-8 NSIC) will open play in the 2026 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Tournament on Sunday at 7 p.m., taking on sixth-seeded Minnesota Duluth (18-11, 14-9 NSIC) at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
NSIC TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The NSIC Men's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championships are set to take place Sat.-Tues., February 28 to March 3 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The tournament took the top 12 eligible teams using overall conference win percentage (22 games). The top four seeds in the tournament each received first-round byes, while first-round games were played on Wednesday, Feb. 25 on campus sites.
Wednesday's tournament action saw eight teams square off in the first round of the tournament, with fifth-seeded Minnesota State, sixth-seeded Minnesota Duluth, eighth-seeded Sioux Falls, and 10th-seeded MSU Moorhead all advancing to the Sanford Pentagon for the quarterfinals.
ALL-NSIC SELECTIONS
Earlier on Thursday, the Northern Sun released the 2025-26 All-NSIC Men's Basketball Teams with CSP junior
Ben Kopetzki named to the First Team and senior
Sam West named to the Second Team.
Click here to read more.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears wrapped up the regular season last weekend with an 87-69 win over Minnesota State at the Gangelhoff Center to clinch the third seed and a first-round bye in the conference tournament.
The first half featured five ties and four lead changes as neither side could gain much separation. Concordia held the lead first at 4-0 following a layup from junior
Ben Kopetzki and a jumper from senior
Sam West, but the Mavericks managed to gain their first advantage shortly after at 7-6. Following another momentum shift that saw the Golden Bears regain the lead and hold it for nearly three minutes, a triple by the Mavericks tied the game at 14 each.
The Mavericks jumped back in front and remained there for a majority of the remainder of the half, but Concordia used a layup from West to take the lead at 32-30 with 1:32 on the clock for what proved to be the game's final lead change. Heading into the locker room, Concordia clung to a 37-34 advantage.
In the second half, however, the Golden Bears took control. After the Mavericks managed to tie the game twice early in the second half, Kopetzki drained a three pointer to put Concordia in front for the final time with 18:19 remaining in the game. CSP shot an efficient 19-of-32 (59.4%) from the floor after halftime and outscored Minnesota State 50-35 over the final 20 minutes to seal the comfortable win.
The Bears consistently attacked in the paint, finishing with 54 points inside compared to MSU's 32 points in the lane. Concordia also carved out a distinct 12-2 scoring advantage in fast break points.
Ben Kopetzki led all scorers with 26 points on 12-20 shooting, adding four rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
Sam West poured in 23 points on an efficient 10-14 from the field and pulled down six rebounds, while junior
Chet Kloss added 14 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks to anchor the interior.
Owen Carlson and
Reid Patterson rounded out CSP's starters with eight and four points, respectively.
Minnesota State was led by Malcolm Jones, who scored a team-high 21 points on 9-13 shooting and added seven rebounds. Traijan Sain chipped in 12 points and three assists, while Phoenix Childs contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.
CSP's defensive effort was evident throughout, as they totaled six blocks and nine steals while turning the Mavericks over 12 times.
Minnesota State shot 24-77 (31.2%) from the field and 6-32 (18.8%) from three-point range, while CSP finished 35-65 (53.8%) from the field and knocked down six three-pointers.
The game marked the final home games in the careers of two CSP seniors, as
Sam West and
Reid Patterson will now look to extend their collegiate careers in the conference tournament.
MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears hold an all-time record of 14-23 against the Bulldogs. In their lone meeting this season, UMD came away with a 71-61 win. The teams have met just once in the NSIC Tournament: a 92-87 double overtime win for the Bulldogs in the first round of the 2020 tournament.
LAST MEETING WITH THE BULLDOGS
In the lone meeting between the Golden Bears and Bulldogs this season, UMD outlasted CSP for a 71-61 win on January 24 in Duluth, Minn.
Senior
Sam West led the way for CSP, scoring 12 points and adding six rebounds, five steals, and four assists, leading the team in each category.
Ben Kopetzki and
Jaden Wysocki added 10 points each for the Golden Bears, while
Owen Carlson and
Chet Kloss rounded out CSP's starting five with nine and four points, respectively.
Ryan Johnson led the effort off the bench with 10 points, and
Hudson Vaith rounded out the score sheet with six points.
In a back-and-forth first half that contained three ties and 10 lead changes, Concordia looked to be in control late as it used a 12-3 scoring burst to take a 31-24 lead with just over three minutes remaining. The Golden Bears went cold at that point, with UMD putting together an 8-0 scoring run of its own, capped off by a buzzer-beating three pointer, to take a 32-31 lead into the break.
The Bulldogs carried that momentum into the opening minutes of the second half, scoring eight unanswered after halftime to take a nine-point lead at 40-31. The UMD lead ballooned as high as 16 when the Bulldogs led 56-40 with 10:47 remaining. The Golden Bears found a spark and pulled themselves back into the game quickly from there, going on a 17-7 scoring run to cut the deficit to just four points at 61-57 with 5:51 to play. That proved to be as close as Concordia would get, as the Bulldogs closed the game on an 8-2 run to secure the 10-point win.
The Golden Bears posted a 21-of-54 (38.9%) shooting performance from the field and an 11-of-28 (39.3%) line from beyond the arc, while UMD was 26-of-54 (48.1%) overall and 9-of-26 (35.6%) from deep. The Bulldogs also outrebounded the Bears 37-31, including a 29-23 edge in defensive rebounds.
The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Kole Hanson with a game-high 28 points, while junior Nick Katona added 18 points on an efficient 7-of-10 shooting performance.
NSIC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
With their win over Mankato in the final game of the regular season, the Golden Bears secured a first-round bye in the NSIC Tournament for the second consecutive season.
Concordia men's basketball has appeared in 22 NSIC Tournament games in its history, holding a record of 4-18 in those games. CSP's last tournament win came on February 22, 2017 when the eighth-seeded Golden Bears knocked off top-seeded and 19
th-ranked MSU Moorhead in the first round. Concordia has played in three conference tournament games at the Sanford Pentagon: a 68-57 loss to Northern State in 2015, a 73-51 loss to Minnesota State in 2017, and a 94-85 loss to Minot State last season.
GOLDEN BEARS VS. THE FIELD
A total of eight teams remain in the NSIC Tournament field heading into the quarterfinals: Augustana, Concordia, Minnesota State, Minnesota Duluth, MSU Moorhead, Sioux Falls, Southwest Minnesota State, and St. Cloud State.
AUGUSTANA
All-time series: Augustana leads 33-7
NSIC Tournament History: N/A
MINNESOTA STATE
All-time series: Minnesota State leads 36-9
NSIC Tournament History: Minnesota State leads 1-0
MINNESOTA DULUTH
All-time series: Minnesota Duluth leads 23-14
NSIC Tournament History: Minnesota Duluth leads 1-0
MSU MOORHEAD
All-time series: MSU Moorhead leads 25-16
NSIC Tournament History: Series tied 1-1
SIOUX FALLS
All-time series: Sioux Falls leads 24-11
NSIC Tournament History: N/A
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE
All-time series: SMSU leads 33-18
NSIC Tournament History: N/A
ST. CLOUD STATE
All-time series: St. Cloud State leads 29-9
NSIC Tournament History: N/A
STAT SHEET STANDOUTS
Junior
Ben Kopetzki finished the regular season as the top scorer in the NSIC, leading the conference and ranking 15
th in Division II with 21.3 points per game. Kopetzki also sits 13
th in the NSIC in field goal percentage (44.5%), 10th in three point percentage (38.5%), and third in free throw percentage (88.0%). In 87 career games across his three seasons at CSP, Kopetzki has scored a total of 1,313 points, ranking 11
th in program history.
Senior
Sam West paces the Northern Sun with 2.5 steals per game this season, an average that ranks 14th most in Division II this year and would be a top-five single-season mark in program history. West also sits third in the conference with 5.1 assists per game.
Sophomore
Owen Carlson continues to be one of the most efficient three point shooters in the conference, knocking down 45.3% of his attempts from beyond the arc to rank second in the conference.
Junior
Chet Kloss is Concordia's top rebounder, ranking 14
th in the NSIC with an average of 5.7 boards per game.
