Feb. 28, 2003

St. Paul, Minn. - A three-pointer by senior guard Stan Johnson (Salt Lake City, Utah) to give Bemidji State (15-11, 11-6 NSIC) its first lead at 5-4 was a sign of things to come. The 20 trifectas on the night broke its own league record of 19 set earlier in the season as Bemidji State went 20 of 38 from behind the arc, attempting just 24 two-pointers, in the 95-77 victory over Concordia-St. Paul (4-22, 4-13 NSIC). The Beavers shot 52 percent (32 of 62) overall with C-SP going 27 of 62 (.435) for the night.

The guests were held without a field goal until Johnson’s three-pointer four minutes into the contest. Along with senior guard Aaron Kallhoff’s (Norfolk, Neb.) two free throws, Johnson ignited a 31-9 scoring outburst that put BSU up 31-13 with 9:19 left in the first half. Twenty-one of those points came via the trey as the Beavers hit on four straight and attempted seven consecutive long-range bombs during that stretch. The Golden Bears closed the gap to 13, which was their closest on the evening, with 2:44 remaining but BSU hit three more from behind the arc to steal a 50-34 halftime edge.

Junior guard Adam Daley (Des Moines, Iowa), who hit on a career-high eight three-pointers, led all scorers with 12 points in the first half as BSU shot a scorching 58 percent (15 of 26) from the floor. C-SP was just 34 percent (11 of 32) from the field.

After two free throws by C-SP’s Brian Jamros to put the count in favor of BSU at 58-44, the Beavers answered back with a 18-6 run to put the game out of reach. Daley and junior forward Charles Hanks (Chicago, Ill.) scored six points each during that run. From that point on, the Golden Bears could not cut the margin under 16 points for the rest of the game.

Concordia-St. Paul improved its shooting touch in the second frame to 53 percent (16 of 30), but was just eight of 23 (.348) from long range. BSU was slightly out-rebounded 35 to 40.

Daley tallied a career and game-high in points with 24, all coming by way of the three-pointer. Johnson was next with 14 points as he knocked down three bombs. Junior guard Jamal Clements (Parkhill, Colo.) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 12 points as all nine BSU scorers had at least six points. Hanks was held under 10 points for the first time in 16 games.

For the hosts, Thomas Blunt recorded 13 points and 11 rebounds while Jamros had 22 points on seven of nine shooting.

Bemidji State holds its own destiny for a home playoff contest. Currently, BSU is tied for third with UM-Duluth and Wayne State (NE) with a 11-6 league mark. With a win tomorrow against Winona State (11-15, 10-7), assuming that the Bulldogs would also win, the Beavers would win the tie-breaker over UM-D for the fourth spot. Wayne State (NE) swept the season series with the Beavers and would take the third spot. Since UM-D and BSU split, the next tiebreaker goes to BSU as it swept league champion Northern State and the Bulldogs went 0-2 against NSU.

Notes: In the overall series, BSU is 7-1 as Concordia-St. Paul won the first ever meeting, Jan. 15, 2000...The Beavers have hit for 10 or more threes in 17 games this season, including 15+ on four occasions...With his four assists, Royce Bryan is one shy of tying for third-place on BSU’s career assists list - he stands at 232...The eight treys by Adam Daley is one shy of the school record set by Mark Hronski vs Wayne State, Feb. 3, 1996 - Daley has gone 15 straight contests with at least one three-pointer...BSU padded its school record for assists as it has 500 after dishing out 23 tonight - the 1993-94 club had 447...The green and white has hit for 20 or more assists 11 times, including five straight games..BSU improves to 7-2 on Friday’s and 5-2 in the month of February...Daley and Jeff Lorenson are battling for the school mark in three-point attempts in a season - currently, Daley stands at 145 and Lorenson is at 138.