MARSHALL, Minn. -- Concordia-St. Paul drilled 17 3-pointers, while Southwest Minnesota State was limited to just one 3-pointer as the Golden Bears earned an 88-68 victory in NSIC men's college basketball on Friday night inside the R/A Facility.
 
Reid Patterson led the Golden Bears with 24 points with six 3-pointers. CSP finished the game shooting 46 percent (31 of 68) from the field, including 17 of 39 from 3-point range. CSP also held a 41-33 rebound edge leading to an 18-7 scoring advantage in second chance points.
 
CSP improves to 7-3 overall, 2-2 NSIC, while SMSU drops to 4-4 overall, 1-3 NSIC.
 
Aeron Stevens led the Mustangs with a career-high 21 points on 7 of 11 shooting. Jake Phipps scored 16, while Cliff Cofield (12) and Dunwa Omot (10) also scored in double figures for the Mustangs.
 
SMSU made 27 of 62 from the field (44 percent), but made just 1 of 13 on 3-point field goal attempts.
 
The teams played a tight opening with SMSU holding a 13-11 advantage following two Stevens free throws at the 13:25 mark.
 
CSP would rally with hot shooting from the 3-point range and build a 22-15 lead with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half.
 
SMSU would trail 32-25 with six minutes left in the half but would use back-to-back field goals by Cofield and Stevens to cut the deficit to 32-29.
 
CSP would maintain a 36-33 advantage with 2:14 remaining following field goal by SMSU's Stevens, but would close the half on a 9-4 run to build a 45-37 halftime lead.
 
CSP connected on 9 of 22 from 3-point range in the first half, while SMSU was 0 for 5.
 
CSP would make four of its first five shots to open the second half to help extend the margin to 55-43 at the 16-minute mark.
 
SMSU would cut the deficit to 67-58 midway through the half, but CSP answered with a 13-7 spurt over a four-minute span to push the margin to 80-64 with 6:25 left in the game and never looked back in defeating SMSU for the sixth time in the last eight meetings.
 
SMSU continues the homestand on Saturday facing No. 12 ranked Minnesota Duluth with game time set for 3:30 p.m.