minneapolis, minn. - in their final exhibition tune-up for the 2008-09 season, concordia university (0-0) came out strong against the university of minnesota (1-0) and used a strong second half defensive stretch to threaten the golden gophers in their season opener at williams arena on the first day of the three day nabc classic. Minnesota led by as much as 22 but concordia cut the deficit to 11, 58-47 with 7:19 to play before eventually falling 76-51 to the host gophers in front of 11,818 spectators. box score

concordia's solid second half defense held minnesota to just five points over a six and a half minute stretch as they were able to whittle away what was a 53-32 gopher lead with about 13 minutes to play to just an 11 point deficit at 7:19.

concordia kept it under a 15 point deficit, twice getting it back to a 12 point game. But minnesota would outscore cu 14-1 down the stretch to put the golden bears away.

junior forward craig heiman's (marshall, wis.) three-point stroke kept concordia in the game as he scored a game-high 26 points on 9-20 shooting, hitting 6-13 from three-point territory while playing 35 minutes.

al nolen paced minnesota with a career-high 17 points while adding six rebounds and six assists. He shot 7-11 from the floor and 3-5 from long range. His two early three-pointers helped keep cu from gaining any momentum as he and heiman traded burying three's.

minnesota's defense held concordia to 29.6 percent shooting (16-54) for the night, including a 24.0 percent effort from deep (6-25).

but concordia countered with tough defense of their own. After allowing minnesota to shoot 50.0 percent (15-30) in the first half, including 33.3 percent from behind the arc (5-15), the gophers cooled off in the final frame, shooting only 35.1 percent (13-37) and connecting just once from downtown in eight second half attempts (12.5%).

heiman helped cu sprint to an early 7-6 lead with freshman center drew votis (peshtigo, wis.) added a free throw while the gophers used a pair of early three's themselves to keep pace with the high-energy golden bears.

with the golden gophers leading 13-7, concordia scored the next four capped by a pair of free throws by junior guard mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) to bring it back within two. Cunningham finished with nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot.

leading 18-14, minnesota sprinted for a quick 8-2 spurt to grab a 26-16 lead. Heiman's layup cut the gap to eight, but that was the last time concordia would trail by only single digits.

in the second half, senior guard matt cadwell (st. Paul, minn.) got going. After missing his first seven field goal attempts, cadwell finished strong with five points down the stretch combined with eight rebounds in the game.

junior guard sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) scored seven points in the game, adding three assists, three teals and three rebounds.

but heiman, cunningham, cadwell and ricks accounted for all but four of concordia's points.

minnesota's inside presence forced concordia big men drew votis (fr., c, peshtigo, wis.) and thomas bassett (jr., f/c, denison, iowa) to foul out. Votis played just nine minutes before fouling out with 13:40 to play and bassett managed only 10 minutes and fouled out with 2:34 left.

after a close rebounding effort in the first half (minn. 21, cu 19), the gophers dominated the glass in the second half and finished out rebounding concordia 56-33 for the night, including 19-8 edge on the offensive glass.

minnesota only had two score in double-figures as lawrence westbrook had 13 points in addition to nolen's 17. But two others had nine (colton iverson, ralph sampson) and two more had eight (paul carter, jamal abu-shamala). Blake hoffarber led minnesota's rebounding surge with a career-high 12 to double his previous high while abu-shamala had nine. Abu-shamala scored all eight of his points in the first half.

concordia officially opens their 2008-09 regular season tomorrow when they take on georgia state at 6:00 at williams arena. Georgia state fell in overtime to bowling green state 77-76.

all photos courtesy justin oakman photography