Concordia-St. Paul 72 Wayne State 59

            Concordia-St. Paul used a 16-2 run late in the first half to take control of the game as the host Golden Bears topped Wayne State 72-59 Friday evening in Northern Sun Conference men's basketball played at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Concordia is now 5-2 overall and 1-0 in league play while the Wildcats fall to 2-5 and 0-2 in the NSIC.
            The host Golden Bears built a pair of six point leads early in the game, but WSC bounced back from a 21-15 deficit and tied the score at 23 on a Trae VandeBerg 3-pointer with 5:51 left in the first half.
            But Concordia-St. Paul went on a 16-2 run to highlight the final six minute stretch as the Golden Bears posted a 39-27 halftime lead.
            After the Golden Bears took their biggest lead of the game at 43-27 one minute into the second half, the Wildcats chipped away at the Concordia lead and got as close as four at 54-50 on a 3-pointer from Elkhorn South freshman backup guard JJ Zumbrennen with 9:42 remaining in the game.
            The Wildcats still trailed by five at 57-52 following a Joel Heesch layup with 6:50 to play, but the Golden Bears pushed the lead back to double digits at 64-54 with three minutes to play and WSC never got closer than eight points the rest of the game as the Golden Bears finished with the 72-59 win.
            Senior center Patrick Kurth led Wayne State in scoring with 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field and 5 for 6 at the foul line.  Junior Jordan Holdsworth chipped in 11 points with freshman guard Tyler Nagy scoring 10.
            Wayne State was 19 of 49 shooting for 38.8 percent, including 9 for 28 from 3-point range.  The 'Cats were 12 of 19 (63.2%) at the free throw line.
            Cole Olstad led Concordia-St. Paul in scoring with a game-high 18 points.  Terez VanPelt (14) and Mike Yahnke (13) also reached double digits for the Golden Bears.
            Concordia-St. Paul made 26 of 57 shots for 45.6 percent, going 2 of 9 from the 3-point line and 18 for 24 at the charity stripe.  The Golden Bears held a sizeable 42-16 advantage on points in the paint.
            Wayne State was out-rebounded 36-29 in the contest despite six boards from freshman Kendall Jacks and five by Austin Esters.  Yahnke led Concordia-St. Paul on the glass with six. 
            WSC had 13 turnovers and 13 assists while Concordia-St. Paul had just seven turnovers and 11 assists.  Joel Heesch had four assists for the Wildcats while Kurth notched two of Wayne State's five blocks.
            Wayne State will face #13 Minnesota State Saturday evening in a NSIC contest at Mankato, Minnesota starting at 7 p.m.