ST. PAUL, Minn. – Despite a second-half scoring surge that saw them erase a 13-point deficit, the Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (15-8, 10-7 NSIC) dropped an 88-81 decision to Augustana (15-8, 13-4 NSIC) on Thursday evening at the Gangelhoff Center.

Junior Ben Kopetzki finished as CSP's scoring leader, pouring in 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and six assists, leading the team in both categories.

Fellow junior Chet Kloss had a career night, posting a career high 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting while tying for the team lead with seven rebounds.

Senior Sam West finished with 12 points, five rebounds, and five assists, and fellow senior Reid Patterson joined him in double figures with 11 points to lead Concordia's reserves.

The Golden Bears carved out an early 11-9 lead, but Augustana followed with a 17-2 scoring surge to take a 26-13 advantage of their own. The Vikings maintained the lead for the remainder of the half, with the advantage peaking at 13 on multiple occasions. At the end of the half, the Vikings held a 53-46 advantage.

The Vikings were red hot in the opening frame, knocking down 18 of their 28 attempts from the field (64.3%) and going 11-of-18 (64.3%) from beyond the arc.

CSP slowly chipped away at the lead throughout the second half, cutting the deficit to five at the 14-minute mark and making it a four-point game at 65-61 with just over 11 minutes to play. Shortly after, Concordia knotted the game up at 70 on a layup by Sam West. That proved to be the end of CSP's comeback bid, as Augustana quickly buried a three pointer and never looked back, taking a lead that it would never relinquish on the way to the seven-point victory.

For the game, Augustana went 29-of-54 (53.7%) from the field and 17-of-29 (58.6%) from deep, while CSP finished 30-of-60 from the field and 9-of-29 (31.0%) from beyond the arc. Concordia won the battle on the glass with a 33-29 edge in rebounding and also dominated in the painted area with a 38-22 scoring advantage down low.  

The Vikings were led by Caden Hinker with 23 points and three rebounds, and Sam Rensch followed closely behind with 16 points and three boards of his own. Tameron Ferguson neared a triple-double for Augie, tallying 12 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists.

The Golden Bears will wrap up their four-game homestand on Saturday, hosting Wayne State (14-9, 10-7 NSIC) in a Northern Sun game at 3 p.m. Concordia has won three of the last five matchups with the Wildcats, including both meetings last season, but Wayne State secured a 79-65 victory over CSP when they played in December earlier this season.