Box Score St. Paul, Minn. --- The eighth-rated Minnesota State men’s basketball team found itself controlling the majority of the contest Tuesday evening as it defeated the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears 86-70.

With the win, the Mavericks improve to 13-1 on the season, with a 9-1 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference record. The win also extends MSU’s winning streak to seven games. With the loss, CU falls to 2-12, with a 0-10 record in league play.

After some back and forth action through the first 12 minutes of the contest, the Mavericks took control and they would not relinquish it the rest of the way as they led by as many 18 points as they cruised to their ninth conference victory.

MSU got several contributions as all but one of the Mavericks who saw the floor tallied at least three points. Five players added at least 10 points in the winning effort including sophomore Assem Marei who tallied a team-high 18 points, to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high five assists.

Senior Jarvis Williams and sophomore Zach Romashko added 13 points each, with Williams chipping in with eight rebounds as well. Romashko went 5-of-9 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Junior Gage Wooten posted 11 points, while sophomore Lucas Brown added a career-high 10 points.

As a team, the Mavericks connected on 33-of-65 (50.8%) shots from the field and hauled in 41 rebounds to Concordia’s 29. MSU also went 7-of-12 (58.3) from the three point line. The Mavericks  also passed out 19 helpers and forced 13 Golden Bear turnovers.

Terez VanPelt led all scorers with 22 points, while Nick Mabbutt added 14 points.

Concordia controlled the tempo early on in the first half as it led by seven at 19-12 with 10:22 remaining in the half. The Mavericks would finish the final 10 minutes of the half on a 29-13 run to take a 41-32 lead into the locker room.

Romashko led all scorers in the first half as he tallied 11 points, which included a 3-of-4 showing from downtown. Marei also made his presence known with eight points, and three helpers, while junior Connor O'Brien posted six rebounds and two blocks.

Mike Yahnke and VanPelt led CU with six points in the first half each. Yahnke also posted a team-high seven rebounds in the first half.

MSU continues its road trip Friday as it travels to St. Cloud State. The opening tip is set for 8 p.m.
                                                                         
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