minneapolis - the concordia university men's basketball team (2-3, 0-1 nsic) started off the conference schedule with a tough loss at the hands of upper iowa, 64-60, at si melby hall on the campus of augsburg college. The upper iowa bench outscored concordia's by a 45-11 margin in a closely contested matchup. box score
senior forward craig heiman (marshall, wis.) led three golden bears in double-figures with 12 points despite shooting 5-14 from the floor and 2-8 from three-point distance. He also added six rebounds, four coming on the offensive glass.
the golden bears kept their 40-plus rebound streak alive, hitting the mark in all five games this season by pulling in 40 with 16 offensive. They limited uiu to just eight offensive boards and doubled them up in second chance scoring, 14-7.
the leading rebounder for concordia? their shortest player tonight, the 5-11 sammy ricks, a senior guard from st. Paul, minn. Ricks collected seven boards and scored 10 points with a pair of steals. He wasn't the only guard crashing the boards as mike cunningham (sr., minneapolis, minn.) had five along with nine points and andrew kuderer (jr., eden prairie, minn.) added three including an offensive rebound and put back on a crucial second half possession.
also hitting double-figures for cu was junior dan vandervieren (eden prairie, minn.) who made his first start of the season contributing season-highs with 23 minutes and 10 points with six rebounds.
off the bench, senior thomas bassett (denison, iowa) was solid in nine minutes, hitting all three of his shots with two rebounds, however his production was limited due to foul trouble, picking up four fouls in his brief time on the floor.
concordia led in the game by as many as eight points after scoring the first four points of the second half by pounding the ball down low to vandervieren and sophomore brent barz (johnston, iowa).
they led by seven points, 54-47, with 5:27 to play but upper iowa clamped down defensively for a 13-2 run over the next four minutes to take a four point lead with just over a minute and a half to play.
concordia would cut the deficit back to two, but would never get a possession with the ball and a chance to tie or take the lead the rest of the way as the peacocks converted all four of their free throws down the stretch.
concordia returns to the floor at home at gangelhoff center where they win over 70% over their games under coach boe. They host #24 winona state, who defeated st. Cloud state 77-72 this evening in st. Cloud. Tip-off is slated for 3:00 p.m., immediately after the women's game at 1:00.
