ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota State Moorhead men's basketball led by as many as 12 points in the second half, but ultimately dropped an overtime thriller with Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday evening. The 21st-ranked Golden Bears claimed a non-conference shootout with the Dragons to close CSP Thanksgiving Classic, 111-108.
Moorhead would pick up where they left off yesterday, building a 10-4 lead thanks to a pair of three-pointers.
Isa El-Amin would open the scoring with a long ball with
Dominic Gooden adding one of his own shortly thereafter. El-Amin would score seven points in the first five minutes of action to keep the Dragons in front, 15-11. Five quick points from
Timaris Brown off the bench kept MSUM in front by four points near the midway point of the first half.
Concordia-St. Paul would battle back into the game to take a 26-24 lead with just under 10 minutes left in the half. The Golden Bears would find a groove from deep, but the Dragons would keep pace, trailing by three points (37-34) with five minutes to go.
Rodrick Payne would score four straight points, followed by a monster block from
Sam Hondl and Moorhead was in control again. The Dragons jumped back in front by three points as the half dwindled.
The Golden Bears would hold a 47-44 lead at the break as El-Amin led MSUM with 10 points. Payne added eight points with Brown scoring seven points. Both teams would shoot 50 percent from the floor in the first half, but the Golden Bears would shoot eight of 19 from long range. Compare that to Moorhead's four of 14 clip through 20 minutes.
Sam Hastreiter and Gooden would knock down threes to begin the second half, helping tie the game at 51 points. Four straight points from
Kabine Kaba would have the Dragons back in front by two early in the half. As the teams traded the lead, Kaba would continue to dominate the opening stages of the half, converting on an and-one to pull the teams even once more. A driving hoop from
Levi Birkholz would get the lead back in Moorhead's favor with just under 15 minutes to go.
El-Amin would surge near the midway point, securing a successful and-one, followed by a steal and pull-up three to push the Dragon lead to eight points.
Adam Jenkins would convert on a hook shot on the next offensive possession to have Moorhead up double figures. With five minutes to play, Moorhead led by five points (88-83) as the game slowed down due to a healthy string of fouls.
Concordia-St. Paul would use a press out of the media timeout to stifle the Dragons. The defensive effort led to numerous Moorhead turnovers, helping the Golden Bears regain the lead (91-90) with just over three minutes to play. The Golden Bears would lead by three points with under a minute to go. Moorhead would get a needed defensive stop and would see El-Amin bury a triple with 27 seconds left to tie the contest once more. MSUM would stall CSP's final chance in regulation, sending the game into overtime tied at 96 points.
In overtime, the teams would keep pace with one another before Concordia-St. Paul claimed a three-point lead with 2:28 remaining. Moorhead would continue to fall victim to untimely turnovers as they attempted to come back. The Dragons would muscle back late as Gooden was fouled while shooting a three. The redshirt junior brought MSUM to within a point with 12.4 seconds remaining (109-108) by sinking all three freebies. Moorhead would have one final chance to send the game into double overtime, but a three from Gooden as time expired misfired. The Golden Bears won 111-108 as El-Amin led the Dragons with 21 points. Gooden, Hastreiter, Kaba and Brown would all score 10 or more for MSUM in the loss. Hastreiter collected a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Top Dragons
Up Next
MSUM (4-3, 1-0 NSIC) returns to NSIC action next week as they travel to take on Bemidji State on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
