Dillon Hogan/ Winonan

As the Winona State University men’s basketball team made trips to Mankato and St. Paul over the weekend, the Warriors looked to earn their first two road wins of the season while concluding regular season away games.

Minnesota State-Mankato was first on the docket for the Warriors, resulting in a tight 68-66 win.

The Warriors found themselves down for almost the entirety of the first half. With about 12 minutes remaining, Tim Wagner was able to cut Winona State’s deficit to one with back-to-back threes. Mankato attempted to pull away, but Isaiah Gray posted four straight points to bring the score within three with 6:34 remaining, 23-20. By halftime the Warriors were down 7 with Mankato holding the 33-26 lead.

Winona State outshot the Mavericks 41.7 percent to 36.4 percent in the first half. Gray led the Warriors at halftime with nine points, while Mohamed Ali Ben Ammar contributed seven and Wagner with six.

The Warriors came out hot in the second half, shooting 60.7 percent on 17-of-28 shots, while holding the Mavericks to 44 percent. Winona outscored Mankato 42-33 in the second half.

As the Warriors found themselves in a 13-point hole with less than 12 minutes remaining in the game, Kyle Bauman scored 15 of his 21 total points. With less than eight minutes on the clock Bauman hit a series of shots, cutting Winona State’s deficit to four points. His and-one dunk completion brought the score to within three points, 56-53, and a final three-pointer from him pulled the Warriors in front 58-56 with about a minute left.

With 21 seconds remaining, a three-pointer from Mankato tied the game 66-66. With 1.5 seconds left, a pass from Gray allowed Bauman to hit the jumper and gave the Warriors the 68-66 victory over the Mavericks and their first road win.

Gray posted 16 points against Mankato while Wagner contributed 12 points with four three-pointers.

Next up Winona State traveled to take on Concordia-St. Paul. The three-point shooting from the Golden Bears allowed them to quickly take the lead 9-2. Winona State brought the game to within three points halfway through the first period, 16-13, and with less than six minutes remaining the Warriors had taken the lead 19-18.

The Warriors maintained a four-point lead over Concordia, but a 7-0 run put Concordia back on top by halftime where they held a 32-29 lead over the Warriors. Nine team turnovers held the Warriors back in the first half, as they outshot Concordia 46.4 percent to 34.3 percent.

Concordia managed to push their lead up to the double-digit mark on multiple occasions in the second half, but the Warriors fought back each time and managed to knock the lead back into the single digit mark.

After a three-point play from Mark Blacklock, the Warriors were down five points with under nine minutes left, 53-48. Layups from Bauman and Gray followed, cutting Concordia’s lead to one point with seven minutes remaining. The Golden Bears locked the Warriors out and led the rest of the game, defeating Winona State 74-63.

Gray led the Warriors with 15 points while playing all 40 minutes of the game. Bauman scored 11 points while Conrad Masberg managed 10 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

The loss to Concordia knocked the Warriors back to .500 with a 12-12 overall record on the season. The loss also puts them at 9-11 in the NSIC with only two games remaining in the season. These games are both home matchups against Wayne State on Friday and Augustana on Saturday.