st. Paul, minn. - in their 2008-09 home opener, the golden bears didn't disappoint in an exciting 91-75 win over augsburg college. Concordia improved to 1-2 while handing augsburg their first loss, dropping to 2-1. Concordia shot 61.3 percent (19-31) in the second half as they scored 53 points and outscored the auggies by 10 to pull away.
junior guard sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) led cu in scoring with 20 points and rebounding with eight. Ricks also had three steals while shooting 8-11 from the field, hitting 1-2 from three-point range and sinking all three of his free throw attempts.
concordia struggled out of the gate as augsburg's scrappy defensive play held cu in check early, allowing the visitors to pull ahead by eight early with a 10-2 lead just over minutes into the game.
but an 8-0 run by the golden bears thanks to six points off the bench by junior forward thomas bassett (denison, iowa) gave cu a spark off the bench that had been missing in their first two games at williams arena last week.
bassett finished the first half with those six points while shooting 3-5 from the floor. He finished the game with eight, shooting 4-7 in 17 minutes of action while also grabbing a pair of rebounds and dishing two more assists as well.
once concordia tied the game at 10, augsburg answered by going on an 8-2 spurt as they attempted to distance themselves from their i-94 rivals from the other side of the mississippi river.
a three-pointer by junior craig heiman (marshall, wis.) tied the score at 20 just over halfway through the opening 20 minutes. Heiman struggled in the first half, making just 2-7 from the field and 1-4 from beyond the arc.
concordia finally claimed their first lead nearly a minute and a half later when senior guard matt cadwell (st. Paul, minn.) dropped in a layup to give them a 25-23 lead at 7:42 in the half. Cadwell finished with 18 points, hitting 10-12 from the line in the game as concordia hit 85 percent from the stripe as a team (17-20).
from there, the half remained within a three-point margin until the last two-plus minutes when concordia used a three-point play by sophomore forward matt hackl (seymour, wis.) on a fastbreak to pull ahead by five at 2:12 to play.
a minute later, another wisconsin sophomore, this time center drew votis (peshtigo) put in a layup from hackl giving concordia their largest first half lead of seven, 38-31.
augsburg's cory palta hit a late free throw to put the halftime score at 38-32 and concordia carrying the momentum into the break.
in the first half, cu shot a respectable 48.3 percent (14-29) and made eight of nine at the line. But they struggled from long distance, connecting just twice in nine attempts. The defense limited the auggies to just 34.5 percent (10-29) shooting, but their 10-2 advantage in second chance scoring kept them in the game.
the teams came out in the second half with the margin remaining under 10, with augsburg clipping back into the game with jon cassens hitting a jumper at 16:28 to bring them within five, 44-39.
they would never come any closer, however, as heiman and ricks put in back-to-back buckets to extend the lead back to nine.
with a 50-43 at 13:52, concordia kicked into a new gear, bursting out for a 18-6 stretch of play that spanned five and a half minutes of action to give the golden bears a commanding 68-49 lead with eight and a half mintues remaining.
heiman found his shot in the second half, hitting a pair of three's during the run with sophomore guard andrew kuderer (eden prairie, minn.) adding another to get the outside game going.
heiman would finish with 15 points, hitting 6-12 from the field and 3-6 from three-point range, both of his second half three-point attempts coming during the run.
after hitting just 2-9 from three in the first half, concordia buried six of nine in the second half, finishing the game 44.4 percent from behind the arc (8-18).
augsburg never got closer than 14 points as concordia claimed their first win of the year.
the bench came on strong for cu as hackl's 10 points led a bench that contributed 26 points and shot 10-18 from the field as a group.
augsburg had four players in double-figures led by nate alm's 17 points and eight rebounds while polta added 15. Guards ben flavin and cassens each doled out six assists but committed nine turnovers as a tandem.
concordia returns to the floor the day after thanksgiving when they travel to the west coast to face san francisco state and california sate-monterey bay in the csu-monterey bay classic in the bay area (calif.).
