ST. PAUL, Minn. --- The Minnesota State men's basketball team ended a three-game losing skid Saturday evening in St. Paul, Minn., as it defeated Concordia-St. Paul 86-82.
With the win, the Mavericks improve to 6-4 on the season, including a 2-3 NSIC record. With the loss, the Golden Bears fall to 4-8, including a 1-4 conference record.
The first half saw a close contest in which both teams built a seven-point lead. CSP jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, only to see the Mavericks build a seven-point lead of their own at 22-15 with 10:12 to go in the half. The Golden Bears managed to finish the first half outscoring the Mavericks 20-12 in the final 10 minutes of the half to carry a 35-34 lead into the locker room.
Senior
Jon Fuqua led all scorers with 13 points, while senior
Aarias Austin tallied six points. Sophomore
Joey Witthus and freshman
Kevin Krieger each hauled in five rebounds as well.
As a team, MSU shot just 33.3% from the field, but it did take advantage of its opportunities from the line as it went 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. The Mavericks also held a 26-20 advantage in rebounds.
Max Keefe led the Golden Bear offense in the first half with nine points. Bryndan Matthews notched seven points and six rebounds as well.
The second half saw the Golden Bears owning a four-point lead at 43-39 five minutes. Over the next eight minutes the Mavericks outscored CSP 25-13 to go up by eight a 64-56 with 6:56 to go in the game.
Concordia-St. Paul would then respond with a run 12-3 run of its own to take a one-point lead at 58-67 with 3:28 to go. The Mavericks took the lead for good on their following possession as Austin connected on one his five makes from downtown to put MSU up 70-68.
The Mavericks then locked down the win as they connected on 11 free throws in the final 2:30 minutes to defeat the Golden Bears 86-82. MSU hit on 11-of-12 attempts from the line in the final minutes, eight of which came courtesy of Austin.
Austin posted a game-high 24 points, which including a 9-of-10 performance from the line and a 5-of-9 performance from long range. Fuqua added 19 points and six rebounds of his own, while sophomore
Jay Knuth and Witthus added 11 points and 10 points, respectively.
As a team, MSU shot 40.7% from the field, to go along with a 28-of-31 (.903) performance from the free throw line.
Keefe led the Golden Bear offense with 20 points, while Sam Siganos passed out a game-high eight assists.
The Mavericks return to Taylor Center on Monday as they host the Waldorf Warriors. Tip-off is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
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