Concordia-St. Paul 77 Wayne State 69

           Concordia-St. Paul used 55 percent field goal shooting and outscored Wayne State 48-36 in the second half to record a 77-69 Northern Sun Conference men's basketball win Saturday evening over the Wildcats in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The host Golden Bears clinch the #4 spot in the NSIC standings at 10-8 in league play and 16-11 overall while WSC drops to fifth place in the league standings at 10-8 and 15-12 overall.

            Concordia-St. Paul jumped out to a quick 12-4 lead in the first four minutes of the game as Golden Bear sophomore forward Craig Heiman scored 8 of CSP's opening 12 points.  WSC then used a 14-4 run to take their first lead of the game at 18-16 with 11:33 left following a Bryce Caldwell three pointer.  The Wildcats would finish the first half with a 33-29 lead.

            After several ties and lead changes early in the second half, Concordia-St. Paul used a 10-2 run to give the Golden Bears the lead for good.  A Jamar Diggs layup with 16:41 left in the game put WSC in front 37-36, but the Golden Bears scored 10 of the next 12 points to grab a 46-39 lead with 13:18 remaining.  The Wildcats got as close as four points twice, 55-51 with 8:03 remaining on a Matt Rathje layup and 67-63 with 2:37 to go following a Diggs jumper.  But CSP would use clutch free throw shooting, 14 of 18 in the second half, to hold off the Wildcats for a 77-69 win.

            Jonathon Thomas paced Wayne State in scoring recording his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds.  Jamar Diggs added 14 points followed by Bryce Caldwell with 11 and Matt Rathje 10.  The Wildcats shot 26 of 59 from the field for 44.1 percent, hitting 5 of 17 three point shots.  WSC was 12 of 16 from the foul line.

            Craig Heiman poured in a game-high 21 points to lead Concordia-St. Paul.  James Metcalf chipped in 19 points while Chuol Chany and Mike Cunningham finished with 11 points apiece.  Cunningham added 10 assists for a double-double. 

            CSP made 27 of 49 shots from the field for 55.1 percent, including 8 of 14 from the three point line.  The Golden Bears were also solid at the free throw stripe making 15 of 20 attempts for 75 percent.

            WSC held a slight 32-29 edge in rebounding over Concordia-St. Paul thanks to Thomas' 12 rebounds.  Metcalf accounted for eight boards to lead Concordia-St. Paul.

            Wayne State will enter the NSIC Men's Basketball Tournament as the #5 seed and will visit #4 seed Concordia-St. Paul next Saturday (March 1) at a time to be determined.