It was best of times and it was the worst of times. 

That was the feeling for the University of Minnesota Duluth tonight. A great first half with high hopes turned sour in the second half and, ultimately, had its 10th victory of the 2017-18 wiped away at the hands of Concordia University-St. Paul in overtime. The Golden Bears were on fire coming out of the half, hitting 68 percent in the second half and connected on 4-of-5 in the extra session to shock the Bulldogs 88-85 in Romano Gymnasium. 

UMD, which dips to 9-14 overall and 5-12 in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, had a 16-point first-half lead dwindle away. The Bulldogs led for nearly 34 minutes but Concordia-St. Paul (5-19; 4-14 NSIC) never laid down. The Golden Bears became the first team to come back from 16-point deficit or more since Northern State University did so 100 games ago on Dec. 12, 2014. The Wolves won that game 58-50 after trailing by 21 points with 16:53 remaining. UMD dropped its first game of the season when leading or tied with five minutes remaining (7-1).  

Avan Ward had 33 points and Bryndan Matthews had 28 for the Golden Bears. Matthews scored 26 points in the second half and overtime as he helped his club erased the deficit with an 18-5 run to tie the game with under a minute. Sophomore guard Trevor Entwisle found junior guard Sean Burns for a contested layup to go ahead 74-72. Ward tied it on the next possession and sent the game into overtime. The Bulldogs never had the lead as the Golden Bears raced out to an 80-74 advantage. UMD got it down to one on a transition three by senior guard Jake Wilson but Ward made his two free throws to ice the game.

Wilson and Ward both were slinging it around the three-point line. Wilson scored 15 of his 19 points off five three-pointers. Ward countered with six of his own. The Bulldogs went 7-for-14 from behind the arc in the first half but went cold in the second, hitting only 1-of-10. 

UMD gave Concordia-St. Paul a bunch of trouble in the first half. The Golden Bears coughed up the ball 14 times and allowed 10 points off those turnovers. The 20 turnovers by CSP was a season-high forced by the Bulldogs. UMD also got to the line 38 times, converting at the charity stripe 28 times. Both marks are the second highest totals of the season. It was 35-for-45 against Northern Michigan University earlier this season.

Sophomore forward Brandon Myer registered his fourth double-double of the season on a stacked stat line. Myer ended up with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and a team-high four steals. Sophomore guard Logan Rohrscheib tallied 15 points while Burns added 14 points of his own. Entwisle tied his collegiate mark of 10 assists tonight that he previously set against Minnesota State University-Moorhead on Jan. 19.

The Bulldogs have to bounce back in under 72 hours as they square off with St. Cloud State University on Tuesday at home. Tip of that showdown with the Huskies will tip off at 7:00 p.m.