> Box Score

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Concordia-St. Paul held off a late charge by Southwest Minnesota State to earn a 74-67 victory in NSIC men's basketball on Saturday night at the Gangelhoff Center.

Joey Bartlett led SMSU (9-11, 5-9 NSIC) with a game-high 22 points on 9 of 18 shooting, while Mitch Weg recorded his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Cole Martin also reached double figures with 13 points with four 3-pointers. The loss was the seventh straight for SMSU.

Concordia-St. Paul (13-6, 9-4 NSIC), which has not allowed an opponent to shoot 50 percent from the field this season, won its fifth game in a row and eight of its last nine games.

SMSU finished the night shooting 42 percent (24 of 57) from the field, but just 39 percent in the second half. CU shot 47 percent (27 of 57) from the field and held a 35-30 rebound advantage.

The Golden Bears jumped to an early 18-5 lead in the game's first six and a half minutes and eventually pushed the margin to 22-7, before SMSU chipped into the deficit in the final 10 minutes of the half.

Trailing 24-12 with 9:34 left in the half, SMSU answered with a 12-2 run in the next three minutes to make the score 26-24 following a Bartlett field goal.

CU extended the lead to 31-24 with 4:30 remaining, but SMSU would answer again and cut the deficit to 33-31 at halftime.

SMSU would take the lead a handful of times in the first five minutes of the second half, including holding a 43-42 lead with 15:04 left following a pair of Weg free throws.

But then SMSU struggled from the field, missing its next six shots from the field and scored just one point over the next six and a half minutes, as CU rallied to push the lead to 57-44 with 8:30. MJ Delmore finally ended the cold spell with a 3-pointer, but the lead eventually pushed to 63-47 with 5:30 left in the game.

SMSU would try and mount a comeback, trimming the CU lead to 71-67 following a Cole Martin 3-pointer with 28 seconds remaining, but CU made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.

Southwest Minnesota State returns home next weekend for a pair of big games. SMSU will face St. Cloud State on Jan. 30, before taking on Minnesota Duluth on Jan. 31 for the annual "Hawaiian Night" game.