fayette, iowa - a strong second half run propelled the concordia university men’s basketball team to 76-68 victory at upper iowa university in their nsic opener. The golden bears dashed to a 15-0 run, turning a two point deficit (47-49, 11:41) into a 13 point lead (62-49) as upper iowa didn't score again until the 7:15 mark. Cu built their lead to 18 points with just over two minutes to play. box score
junior guard sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) paced the golden bears with 20 points and nine rebounds as cu improved to 2-4 overall and 1-0 in the nsic. Ricks was one of four cu players to notch double-digits in scoring on the night. The peacocks fell to 1-5 overall and dropped to 0-1 in league play.
uiu maintained a lead for nearly the entire first half and took a one-point lead into halftime, 34-33. After a back-and-forth battle for the first half of the second session, the golden bears took control of the game with a 13-0 run that spanned nearly four minutes of play. The 13 point lead would eventually escalate into an 18 point lead with 2:09 remaining in the game thanks to strong play in the post.
concordia outscored upper iowa 24 to 8 in the paint in the second half and had a 38-16 advantage down low in the entire game.
joining ricks in double-figure scoring was junior forward craig heiman (marshall, wis.), senior guard matt cadwell (st. Paul, minn.) and junior forward thomas bassett (denison, iowa). Heiman scored 15 points and dished out four assists. Cadwell and bassett, both teammates at south dakota state prior to joining cu, combined to shoot 10-of-13 from the floor in the game, as cadwell scored 13 points and bassett finished with 11.
as a team, the golden bears had a strong night shooting from the floor. They opened the game by shooting 50 percent in the first half and then shot a blistering 63 (17-of-27) percent in the second half. They finished the game shooting 56.4 percent from the floor while limiting uiu to just 37.9 percent.
junior point guard mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) was more than effective in running the cu offense. In 31 minutes of action he posted nine dimes and turned the ball over just twice.
the peacocks were led in scoring by matt lesan, who scored 15 points and dished out six assists. He struggled from the floor making just 3-of-14 shots, but was 8-of-10 from the foul line.
concordia university will travel to winona state university on saturday, dec. 6 at 8:00 p.m., where they have never won. The host warriors boast the #16 rank in the nabc coaches poll.
