HIGHLIGHTS
• Senior center Brett Ervin led the Bulldogs with 21 points on the night, while junior forward Brendon Pineda netted 20 on 8-of-12 shooting. Pineda led the way with eight rebounds while Ervin hauled in seven.
• Terez Van Pelt scored 17 points to lead the way for the Golden Bears. Cole Olstad and Mike Yahnke each hauled in a team-high seven rebounds for CU.
 

The two teams took time to feel each other out in the early going, with UMD a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe in the early going with both teams knotted at seven early. Concordia made good on extra posessions, starting 5-of-11 from the floor while hauling in three offesnive rebounds and forcing three Bulldog turnovers in the first six minutes of the game to take a 14-9 lead at the first media timeout. The Golden Bears stretched the lead to ten at 33-23 as the team continued to shoot the lights out, improving their scoring percentage to 52.2 percent including 5-of-10 from beyond the arc after 15 minutes had come off the clock. Head coach Matt Bowen called a timeout to refocus his team defensively, as they, too, had shot impressively - 44.0 percent as a team led by 6-of-9 (17 points) for Brett Ervin in the first half, but the team gave up five turnovers in the opening stanza. After the Bears pushed the lead to 13 with 2:41 remaining, the Bulldogs scored the final seven points of the half to cut the lead to 36-30 headed into the locker room.

UMD turned the ball over on its opening possession out of the locker room, but then scored the first two baskets of the half to pull within two. Both teams cooled off in the early going, but Concordia quickly rebounded, opening up a 16-4 run propelled by a pair of threes by Terez Van Pelt that put the Bears up by 14. Pineda drilled a three in the corner to start a Bulldog rally as UMD cut the lead to 53-45 as the clock ticked past the midway point of the half. Another big three -- Concordia would finish with eight on the night -- stretched its lead out to 58-45 with 7:14 remaining, but UMD again battled back scoring nine of the next 11points, including another three and a slam dunk by Pineda to pull back within 60-54 with 3:35 remaining in the game.

The Bulldogs would get no closer as the Golden Bears cooled off in the second half, shooting just 40.4 percent for the night, but held UMD off.  UMD shot just 39.6 percent for the game as the Bulldogs got zero points from their bench. "I thought we played hard but we did not shoot the ball well," said head coach Matt Bowen after the game. "I thought Brendon and Brett had nice games, and quite honestly, the rest of the team did not. Defensively, we held them to 65 points. That should be good enough to win. We only turned the ball over nine times, but we just missed too many opportunities."
 

UMD will continue on the road tomorrow evening when the Bulldogs travel to Mankato to take on Minnesota State University in more NSIC action. Opening tip is set for 8:00 p.m., following the women's contest.