ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (16-8, 11-7 NSIC) closed out its four-game homestand with a 95-59 statement win over Wayne State College (14-10, 10-8 NSIC) on Saturday afternoon at the Gangelhoff Center.

Concordia's 36-point margin of victory was its largest since November 25, 2023, when it beat Truman State 96-54, a 42-point win. The win improved CSP's all-time record against Wayne State to 23-32, and gave Concordia a 15-14 edge against the Wildcats in games played at the Gangelhoff Center. The Golden Bears have now won three of the last four meetings with WSC.

The victory could prove pivotal for the Golden Bears down the stretch as they look to improve their seeding in the NSIC Tournament, as both teams entered the day in a tie for fourth place in the NSIC with a 10-7 record in conference play.

Sophomore Marcus Burks had his strongest outing in a Concordia uniform thus far, leading all players in the game with 19 points on an efficient 7-of-11 shooting line, including a perfect 2-of-2 performance from beyond the arc. Burks was also active in other areas, tallying three rebounds, two assists, and two blocks.

Fellow sophomore Owen Carlson also had a solid afternoon, scoring 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go along with three rebounds and two assists. Jaden Wysocki and Reid Patterson added 13 points each for Concordia, while Ben Kopetzki finished with 11 points.

Senior Chet Kloss led the effort on the glass with 11 rebounds, including a pair of offensive boards, while Sam West led the team with five assists.

The Golden Bears looked to be in control from the opening tip, holding the Wildcats to just six points while scoring 22 to lead by 16 through the game's first 11 minutes. The lead ballooned as high as 23 in the first half before Concordia took a 43-22 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Wildcats used a 9-2 scoring run early in the second half to cut the deficit to 16 at 52-36 with just over 13 minutes to play, but that proved to be as close as they would get. The CSP lead continued to grow throughout the remainder of the contest, as the Bears outscored the Wildcats 36-18 in the game's final 11 minutes.

CSP dominated nearly every facet of the game, leading in rebounds (45-30), assists (19-6), points off turnovers (21-20), bench points (51-17), fast break points (19-2), and points in the paint (32-22). The Golden Bears shot 53.1% (34-of-64) from the field and 46.7% (14-of-30) from beyond the arc and limited Wayne State to just 30.9% (17-of-55) shooting and 11.1% (2-of-18) from deep. 

Concordia dug deep into its reserves late in the second half, with 15 of the 17 players on the roster seeing action in the game. It marked the first collegiate appearances for a pair of freshmen in Alex Kopetzki and Allan Lankfard Jr., with Kopetzki hitting a jumper late in the game for the first points of his career.

The Wildcats were led by Matt Noll with 12 points, while Andrew Stokes finished with 11. Aurrion Harris neared a double-double for WSC with nine points and 10 rebounds.

With just four games remaining in the regular season, Concordia will hit the road next week for games at Sioux Falls (12-12, 9-9 NSIC) on Thursday and Southwest Minnesota State (14-9, 12-6 NSIC) on Saturday.