Men’s Basketball begins road trip at Concordia-St. Paul, Minnesota State

Bemidji State University men’s basketball begins a four-game road trip Feb. 7-8 while taking on Concordia University-St. Paul and Minnesota State University, Mankato. The Beavers open the weekend at 7:30 p.m. Friday against the Golden Bears in St. Paul, Minn., followed by the weekend-finale at 5:30 p.m. Saturday against the Mavericks in Mankato, Minn.

BSU holds a slight edge in the all-time series over CSP, 17-16. The Beavers have won three straight meetings against the Golden Bears after taking last season’s lone meeting, 73-58, in Bemidji, Minn. Junior guard Griffin Chase scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting last season against CSP while chipping in six rebounds. Senior guard Ja Morgan recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists while falling three rebounds shy of a triple-double.

Bemidji State and Concordia-St. Paul first met Jan. 15, 2000, a 51-49 victory by the Golden Bears in St. Paul.

Minnesota State leads the all-time series against Bemidji State, 70-36. The Mavericks won five straight games against the Beavers until BSU, as a No. 8 seed in the NSIC Tournament, beat No. 1 ranked MSU, 66-56, in Mankato, Minn. It was BSU’s first first-round victory in the postseason since the 2012-13 season. Morgan scored 22 points in both meetings against Minnesota State last season. He also recorded seven rebounds in each game and averaged 6.5 assists. Junior forward Derek Thompson also averaged double-figure scoring with 11.5 points per game. Sophomore forward Cody Landwehr recorded his fourth double-double over a five-game span with 16 points and 13 rebounds off the bench in the postseason victory.

The series began Jan. 27, 1933, a 24-23 win by MSU in Bemidji. Minnesota State won the first four games of the series while Bemidji State won two of the next three games.