moorhead, minn. - junior forward craig heiman's third consecutive 20-plus point effort led a cu starting lineup that all posted double-figures as concordia university (12-13, 10-8 nsic) outlasted msu moorhead (8-15, 5-13 nsic) at nemzek hall in a high scoring 99-92 overtime thriller. Heiman finished with 29 points and a game-high nine rebounds while the dragons were carried by a season-high 37 point performance by justyn burgess while jake driscoll added 20 in the losing effort for msum. The cu win secures an nsic tournament berth, which was already solidified when bemidji state lost at #23 winona state earlier in the evening. box score
the game was reminiscienct of concordia's only other win at nemzek hall in head coach kelly boe's first season leading the golden bears. In that game, concordia faced a 17 point deficit before 70.1% second half shooting including seven second half three-pointers carried them to the 28 point turnaround in an 83-74 win on december 2, 2006. They scored 56 second half points in their first win in moorhead.
this year, cu faced a 31-20 deficit midway through the first half before clawing back to a five point gap, 37-32 at the break. In the second half, concordia turned on the scoring, bursting for 54 points in the final 20 minutes behind sizzling 59.4% field goal shooting including seven of 11 from long range.
the dragons held close this time, however, hitting all 11 of their second half free throws, none bigger than the two by burgess with 13 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at 86 to avenge for a costly missed 10 foot baseline jumper with 45 seconds left that could have put the dragons up by three.
in fact, msu moorhead didn't score on a field goal in the final three-plus minutes of regulation as concordia clamped down defensively in their bid for a road comeback win. Msu moorhead saw a pair of free throws fall from dwayne hardy at 3:12 and burgess at 2:47 to put them up five. Those, along with the burgess free throws at 13 seconds, were the only points they scored down the stretch.
prior to burgess' baseline miss, he had scored 33 points on 15-18 shooting. He finished the night cold, however, as he made just one of his last four shots from the field to end up 16-22. He had seven rebounds, six on the offensive glass combined with numerous put-backs that allowed msum to hold a decisive 16-6 edge in second scoring.
concordia, meanwhile, converted when it counted. Junior guard mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) scored four consecutive points to trim the msum lead from five to one with 1:18 to play. Cunningham had a big night with 16 points, eight rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocks. He was 5-8 from the floor and 6-7 at the stripe.
after the defensive stop forced burgess to miss his baseline jumper with 45 seconds to play, senior guard matt cadwell (st. Paul, minn.) delivered his fourth three-pointer of the night to put cu back on top, 86-84 with 25 seconds to play. Cadwell, who would seal concordia's win with a pair of free throws late in the overtime, finished with 16 points and five rebounds. He converted four of seven from long range and five of nine from the field.
in the overtime, concordia made two of their three shot attempts while converting nine of their 12 free throws en route to racking up 13 points. The dragons couldn't keep up with concordia despite cu's reliance on their starting lineup.
on the night, concordia's five starters averaged 39.4 minutes and they only used two reserves, junior thomas bassett (denison, iowa) and sophomore andrew kuderer (eden prairie, minn.). Bassett logged 20 minutes of pt before fouling out while kuderer played eight minutes of action.
the dragons, meanwhile, countered by going deep to their bench with two reserves, andrew van havermaet and jake driscoll, playing 35 and 34 minutes, respectively as the dragons used five reserves to total 38 points compared to cu's eight bench points.
but the starting five carried cu, with all five hitting double figures as sophomore matt hackl (seymour, wis.) produced a career-high 19 points, hitting 4-6 from deep and 7-10 from the floor in 34 minutes. Junior sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) added 11 points and four rebounds.
as a team, concordia was efficient at the free throw line and got their often, hitting 25-32 while msum received just 13 trips to the line, hitting 12. Concordia is now 9-3 when getting to the line more than their opponent and after winning the rebounding battle (38-37) for just the sixth time this year, they improve to 5-1 when grabbing more boards than their foes. Heiman was the main reason why concordia did well in each of these areas, as he hit 12-13 at the line and led all players with nine rebounds.
while the win this evening has similarities to cu's only other win at nemzek hall, the only two players that played in that game that played tonight were a pair of concordia freshman reserves: heiman and cunningham.
now juniors, the duo certainly learned from their rookie seasons what it takes to win in moorhead as they helped spearhead the comeback this time around.
concordia is now 2-8 all-time at nemzek.
concordia closes out their regular season road schedule with a victory and has now won six of their last nine games overall. They are a game behind northern state for the seventh spot in the league with two more home games to play. On wednesday, cu hosts st. Cloud state (12-6) before closing out the regular season on saturday against upper iowa (4-14). Game times are at 8:00 p.m.
