ST. PAUL, Minn. (Gangelhoff Center) - The Bemidji State University men’s basketball team fought Concordia University-St. Paul from wire to wire, but the Golden Bears proved to be too much for the Beavers Saturday evening from the Gangelhoff Center, handing the team a 75-62 loss in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.

Bemidji State opened up the game with a 10-0 run with Arron Evans (Sr., G, Minneapolis, Minn.) leading the way as he scored six of the Beavers 10 points in the opening 2:47 of the game. That would be the largest lead the Beavers would hold all night as the Golden Bears slowly climbed back into the contest. The Golden Bears erased the 10 point deficit over the next ten minutes as a jumper by Mike Cunnigham gave the Golden Bears its first lead of the game at 18-17 with 8:13 left in the contest.

The next four minutes the teams traded baskets and with just under four minutes left to play in the half CSP would start to increase its lead. Before the half was over the Golden Bears had pushed its lead to eight points, their largest lead of the half at 36-28. Craig Heiman rallied CSP back from the 10 point deficit as he netted 17 points in the first half. BSU was led by Sergej Baskow (So., F, Ludwigsburg, Germany) and Evans who netted nine and eight points, respectively.

The second half started with CSP’s Matt Caldwell netting a jumper just eight seconds into the half to push the Golden Bear lead to 10 points. BSU chipped away at the lead as they cut CSP’s lead to five points at 41-36 but that is as close as the Beavers were able to get as CSP started to increase its lead for the victory.

CSP increased its lead to as large as 19 points in the second half with just under three minutes left to play. The Beavers tried to mount a late charge but time would run out and CSP found themselves on the end of a 75-62 victory.

BSU’s Arron Evans (Sr., G, Minneapolis, Minn.) and Sergej Baskow (So., F, Ludwigsburg, Germany) led the Beavers in scoring as Evans netted 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting while Baskow chipped in with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting. Jimmy Johnson (Fr., C, Andover, Minn.) led the Beavers on the glass as he posted a career-high eight rebounds and Kyle Scott (Jr., G, Phoenix, Ariz.) dished out four assists.

The trio of Craig Heiman, James Metcalf, and Mike Cunningham led the Golden Bears offense. Heiman netted a game-high 23 points with Metcalf and Cunningham each garnering 11 points in the game.

CSP outscored the Beavers 40 to 32 in the paint and 24 to 23 on points off turnovers.

The Beavers shot .481 (25-52) in the game but the Golden Bears shot a sizzling .500 (28-56) to help the Golden Bears garner the conference win.

Bemidji State falls to 12-5 all-time versus CSP as the Golden Bears are currently on a three-game winning streak over the Beavers.

Bemidji State (3-7; 1-3 NSIC) will take a little break from conference action and will be back in action on Thursday, Dec. 20 when the Beavers will play Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn. The game is slated to begin at 8:00 p.m.

Bemidji State University, located in Bemidji, Minn., is an NCAA Division II institution and a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

--beavers--