Senior Ty Thomas drained a pair of threes that helped spark a 21-2 scoring run that spanned eight and a half minutes in the second half to propel Concordia University (3-0) to a 66-45 victory over Augustana College (2-3) on Friday evening in the Radisson St. Paul Concordia Thanksgiving Classic at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul, Minn.

The run for Concordia came after they surrendered a 30-27 halftime lead. The Vikings went on a 9-4 run following halftime, taking a 36-34 lead with 15:12 to play. But after the run, the Golden Bears held a commanding 55-38 lead with 6:40 remaining. The CU defense held Augustana without a field goal for the entire run, as their only points came on a pair of Eric Krogman free throws.

Thomas's pair of threes during the run accounted for six of his game-high 23 points. He finished 7-16 from the field, 3-4 from three-point range, and a perfect 6-6 at the line. He pulled down seven rebounds, dished out three assists, and had three blocks and one steal in 36 minutes of action.

Senior forward Kenneth Pointer turned in 15 points on 5-10 shooting, connecting on one three and hitting all four of his free throws. Pointer, who played 35 minutes, also pulled down four rebounds and had four steals.

The Golden Bears, who outrebounded the Vikings 41-30, were led on the glass by junior guard Kyle Marxhausen's nine rebounds. Marxhausen just missed a double-double, as he also scored 10 points in 31 minutes of play.

The point-guard combination of junior Joey Peel and senior RJ Allen combined for 14 points on 5-8 shooting with four assists. Peel, who started and played 28 minutes, scored eight points on 3-6 shooting and had a pair of assists and a steal. Allen came off the bench with six points, two assists, and a steal in 12 minutes.

Sophomore guard Jason Birr came off the bench with seven rebounds, three offensive, while junior forward Marlon Walker added five rebounds off the bench, four coming off the offensive glass.

No one reached double-figures for the Vikings, who were held to 31.4% shooting for the game. Their leading scorer coming into tonight's game, Joey Ryan (10.5 ppg prior to tonight) was held to just three first-half minutes after recording two quick fouls. Ryan finished the evening with just three points in 15 minutes of play, shooting 1-5 from the field. Nick Olson led Augustana with nine points, while Excell Hardy and Eric Krogman each contributed seven.

The Golden Bears executed from the free-throw line, hitting 17-19 (89.5%), while Augustana was just 8-12 (66.7%). The Bears, who were 0-4 from three-point land in the opening half, connected on 5-10 from behind the arc in the second half.

Concordia will look to defend their perfect 3-0 record tomorrow evening on day two of the Radisson St. Paul Concordia Thanksgiving Classic when they host the Northern Michigan Wildcats, who fell to 0-3 on the season when they lost to MSU Moorhead 68-59 at the Gangelhoff Center prior to the Golden Bear victory. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. or immediately following the Augustana/MSU Moorhead game that tips-off at 6 p.m.