moorhead, minn. - concordia university evened their nsic record at 2-2 while improving to 4-4 overall with a decisive 76-54 win at msu moorhead (3-6, 1-3 nsic) on saturday night at alex nemzek fieldhouse. Three golden bears scored in double-figures led by senior sammy ricks (g, st. Paul, minn.) who scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the first half to help concordia build a 43-30 lead at the break. box score
the golden bears turned 12 dragon turnovers into 22 points while only committing seven turnovers of their own, limiting the damage to just four msum points off turnovers. For the second straight night, concordia kept their turnovers in check. Heading into the weekend, cu was last in the league in turnover margin at -6.7 but in two road wins this weekend, the squad committed just 7.5 turnovers per game and forced 11.5 by their opponents to average a +4.0 in the turnover margin leading to a 39-13 advantage in points off turnovers.
there were only two ties and one lead change throughout, with msu moorhead holding their only lead less than a minute into play. The golden bears pretty much asserted their will with the dragons tonight.
ricks finished the night 6-8 from the field, connecting on both of his three's with three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 33 minutes of turnover free basketball. Ricks has now dished out 23 assists to just six turnovers in eight games this season while averaging over 30 minutes per game.
two others scored in double-figures for cu, mike cunningham (g, sr., minneapolis, minn.) with 13 points and five rebounds; and craig heiman (f, sr., marshall, wis.) with 11 points while knocking down three from long range.
off the bench, cu was led by freshman isaiah thomas (fridley, minn.) with nine points. The rookie scored 17 points on the weekend in 14.0 minutes per game in the two wins. He shot 3-5 from the floor tonight and 6-9 for the weekend.
in another impressive bench performance, junior post dan vandervieren (eden prairie, minn.) pulled down a team-high nine rebounds as cu won the rebounding war for the sixth time in eight games this year with a 33-31 margin. He also had four points and cu's only block in 20 minutes.
while concordia failed to register 40 rebounds for the second straight time this weekend and the first two times all season, they did dominate the paint, keeping the dragons to just eight points in the lane while scoring 20. Sophomore post brent barz (johnston, iowa) contributed to that dominance with eight points and seven rebounds down low.
the golden bears return home for six straight games, beginning next friday and saturday at home against judson (il) university and regis (co) university at 8:00 and 7:00 p.m., respectively at gangelhoff center.
