The Bemidji State men's basketball team started strong, but didn't have the finishing touch in a 78-73 loss to Concordia-St. Paul Friday night at BSU Gymnasium.
The Beavers powered out to a 25-14 lead early on, but the Golden Bears rallied to take a 34-30 lead at halftime and took over the final 10 minutes of the game.
Bemidji State lost its third straight game and fell to 7-13 overall (4-10 NSIC).
The Beavers wrap up the NSIC doubleheader weekend Saturday at BSU Gymnasium against St. Cloud State at 8 p.m.
Seth Haake led the Beavers in another strong effort and finished with a team-high 26 points.
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Mason Walters had 12 points while Bryce Tesdahl and Jake Lindstrom each added 10 points.
Burke Lendl led the Beavers on the glass with a team-high 10 rebounds.
Concordia-St. Paul was led by Craig Heiman's game-high 30 points. Brent Barz had 16 points and Sammy Ricks had 10 points for the Golden Bears (11-10 overall, 8-6 NSIC).
Despite Lendl's strong night defensively, Bemidji State had trouble dealing with the height mismatch against Concordia and were outrebounded 41-24.
The Golden Bears also won the game with 3-point shooting by going 6-of-8 from beyond the arc in the second half. BSU was 2-for-8 in the second half.
The game started well for the Beavers as BSU pulled away from an early 7-7 tie with an 18-7 run to lead 25-12 with 7:04 remaining in the half.
It would be BSU's biggest lead of the game.
The Beavers' shooting touch then went cold as the Golden Bears clamped down on defense and went on a 22-2 run to erase Bemidji State's lead in the final minutes of the half.
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Bemidji State came out strong in the second half by going on a 16-6 run to take a 46-40 lead five minutes into the half.
But Concordia stayed persistent and pulled the score even for the last time at 51-51 with 12:10 to play.
Bemidji State never let the game get out of hand and made it interesting late when Lendl's layup cut Concordia's lead to 72-71 with 1:11 to play.
A pair of made free throws by Courtney Tyler gave Concordia a 76-73 lead with 18 seconds to go and the Golden Bears put it away on the Beavers' next possession. Sammy Ricks' steal on Bryce Tesdahl followed by a layup put the game out of reach for BSU.
