Photo by Samantha Davis: Southwest Minnesota State University guard Jakob Braaten, 1, dribbles through a crowd of Concordia-St. Paul defenders during a mens basketball game on Saturday at the R/A Facility in Marshall.

MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State University mens basketball team couldn’t keep pace with Concordia-St. Paul’s frenetic offense on Saturday night as the Golden Bears handed the Mustangs their first Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference loss of the season, 92-85.

Cade Meyer got a quick pair of layups on Concordia’s first two possessions but a pair of free throws from Steven Kramer and a Jakob Braaten layup kept the game tied. Marcus Skeete followed up with a 3-pointer, however, to give the Golden Bears a lead that they held onto for the remainder of the half.

Mason Lund hit a long 2 and a 3-pointer to bring SMSU back within a point, 10-9, but the Golden Bears rattled off a 7-2 run with a Meyer dunk and 3 points apiece from Antwan Kimmons and Sean Mathiew to regain control.

While the Mustangs have been a defensively oriented team, Concordia did what it could to make SMSU uncomfortable by pushing the pace early.

Trailing 53-47 at the half, Jakob Braaten helped SMSU start the game’s final 20 minutes off on the right foot with 6 points in the first 90 seconds, trimming the deficit to 55-52. A few minutes later, Steven Kramer converted a layup and knocked down a jumper through contact before hitting the game-tying free throw four minutes into the half.

The 57-57 tie was the first time SMSU wasn’t trailing since the score was 4-4 in the first two minutes of the game. Just as the game tightened up, however, Reid Patterson hit a 3 and Antwan Kimmons recovered his own miss for a tip-in to bring the Golden Bears’ lead back to 5 points. The Golden Bears then built their lead back up to 10 points at 79-69 when SMSU called a timeout with 8:17 to play.

SMSU started to find new life when Braaten hit a layup and Schlaak got a second-chance basket off a 3-point miss from Lund to cut the deficit to 81-75 with seven minutes left on the clock. A free throw from Braaten cut it to 5 and Aeron Stevens hit a Dream Shake and a contested layup on consecutive possessions to bring the Mustangs within a point, 81-80, with five minutes remaining.

Antwan Kimmons ended SMSU’s 10-0 run with a corner 3 and another shot from beyond the arc from Ben Kopetzki brought the Golden Bears’ lead back up to 7 points.

Southwest Minnesota State University falls to 7-2 overall and 2-1 in conference on the season while Concordia-St. Paul improves to the same marks. The Mustangs will hit the road next weekend to take on Minnesota State and Winona State. Friday’s game against the Mavericks in the Toyota Center is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. while Saturday’s matchup against the Warriors in McCown Gymnasium is slated for 5:30 p.m.

SMSU hosted Minnesota State earlier this season for a non-conference matchup, pulling away for an 81-68 win.