st. Paul, minn. - this is the question of the week, already posed on twitter (www.twitter.com/cugoldenbears): how often does a team shoot 54.0% (27-50) from the floor, 60% (9-15) from three-point range, out-rebound their opponent (30-28) and commit less than 10 turnovers and still lose? that is exactly what happened to the concordia university men's basketball team on tuesday evening at gangelhoff center. The golden bears were defeated by #3 st. Thomas (division iii) 80-78 despite concordia's fierce comeback late in the game. Senior guard sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) missed a 35 footer at the buzzer as the tommies held on for the win. box score
st. Thomas played near mistake free basketball for 40 minutes, committing just three turnovers with zero in the first half. They also knocked down 13 three-pointers with tyler nicolai connecting for five of seven and alex healy making four of seven.
it was a very closely contested game with seven ties and eight lead changes, a bulk of those coming in the second half. But ust was able to gain separation by using a 9-0 run from the 11 minute mark to the nine minute mark to up 67-57.
their lead stayed between six and 10 points for the next six minutes until sophomore post brent barz (johnston, iowa) scored three consecutive points (all free throws) with ricks scoring the next three on a jumper in the lane leading to a three-point play. That cut the gap to just two points, 73-71, with 1:48 to play.
barz finished with his third double-double of the season with a career-high 19 points on 6-9 shooting (7-10 free throws) with 11 rebounds (four offensive). Ricks scored 13, had a career-high seven assists, made 2-4 from three-point range and 3-3 at the line.
the tommies responded as nicolai connected on his fifth three-pointer of the game with just under 90 seconds remaining. Nicolai finished with 17 on the night, missing all seven of his shots inside the arc.
concordia responded by pounding down low to barz again with his jumper misfiring and senior forward craig heiman (marshall, wis.) cleaning it up with a tip-in at 1:14 left. Heiman finished the night with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. He made 6-10 from the field and 4-7 from three-point range. His first three of the night was his 200th in his career, becoming the second player in school history to hit the milestone.
on ust's possession, concordia's defense forced an off balance 20 footer from nicolai as the shot clock expired just inside the arc at the top of the key. Barz pulled down the rebound but turned it over out of bounds in a crowded baseline with under 35 to play and no shot clock for ust.
the tommies scored on the inbounds, however, giving concordia the ball back down by five, 78-73 with 34 ticks on the clock.
on their possesion, junior forward chris hamblin (eagan, minn.) passed the ball from the top of the key 25 feet out to ricks on the wing. Ricks delivered a three-pointer with 22 seconds to play to cut the lead back to two.
at this point, cu had just four team fouls but were efficient in committing three consecutive fouls to put ust on the line with a 78-76 score.
nicolai made both of his 1-and-1's giving the tommies a four point edge, 80-76 with 20 seconds to go.
with the ball, concordia went down low quickly to barz who was fouled on his drive. He made the first of two but the rebound was tipped back out to him as he crashed the glass hard. He went back up strong again and was fouled. Trailing by three with eight seconds to play, barz made the first but missed the second.
finally, ust was able to corral the board.
concordia put healy on the line for a 1-and-1. Healy had already made seven of 10 from the field and four of seven from long range for 18 points. But in his first free throw attempt on the night, he misfired and predictably barz soared for the rebound.
concordia called timeout with five seconds to play, inbounding from under their own basket.
on the inbounds, ricks took the ball on his own free throw line and dodged and weaved his way through a ust press where he pulled up on the run from 35 feet out. The ball bounced hard off the backboard in the square and caught the rim before it was flung out to ust's john nance with no time on the clock.
concordia's valiant comeback attempt against third-ranked and undefeated st. Thomas fell short.
the golden bears were solid defensively inside the arc, limiting the tommies to 16-39 shooting from short range, but their 13-21 long distance shooting and their mere three turnovers helped them overcome tonight's lead: the question of the week.
concordia will bring in the new year against st. Cloud state on saturday, january, 2 at 4:00 p.m. In northern sun action. They conclude their non-conference schedule with a 3-4 record, but are even in nsic play thus far at 2-2.
