st. Paul, minn. - upper iowa didn't have an answer for concordia university's lone senior on senior night. St. Paul native matt cadwell tied a concordia school record by sinking eight three-pointers on his way to setting the single game scoring record of 46 points as the golden bears defeated the peacocks 101-91 at the gangelhoff center. Concordia improves to 13-14 on the year and 11-9 in league play while uiu falls to 5-22 overall and 4-16 in the nsic. Upper iowa didn't win a road game as their season concludes, while concordia will play in the nsic tournament on wednesday, march 4. box score
cadwell was honored before the game not only for senior night but also for being the recipient of the dennis getzlaff memorial scholarship. While he was the center of attention during the pregame festivities, it was no comparison for how his night was scripted.
he kicked off the contest by scoring 10 quick points to put cu ahead 10-7 early. But the peacocks started just as hot as a team and would sprint to a 32-18 lead at the halfway mark of the first half. Concordia pulled within five, 36-31 five minutes later but the peacocks held onto the lead before half, 54-45.
cadwell had 20 points in the first half but three players for uiu were in double-figures. Upper iowa also controlled the paint early with an 18-8 halftime edge in rebounds including a decisive 15-2 second chance scoring advantage thanks to an 8-3 lead in offensive boards.
the peacocks were firing on all cylanders early hitting 21-34 from the floor (.618) and 8-10 from behind the arc (.800) while concordia was hot as well, but just a shade behind, shooting 18-31 (.581) in the first half while hitting 6-13 (.462) from three.
things would change in the second half, though.
second chance scoring was even at two apiece in the final 20 minutes as uiu only grabbed three second half offensive rebounds while concordia nearly matched with two. Shooting cooled for uiu to a 50.0% (14-28) clip in the second half while concordia turned it on, hitting 66.7% (18-27) from the floor and popping five of eight from three-point range while uiu hit just two of seven second half three's.
the end result in the second half was a 56-37 scoring margin in favor of the home team while cadwell accounted for 26 of those points, not leaving the floor in the second half.
on the night, he finished 15-21 from the floor, 8-12 from three-point range and 8-9 at the stripe. His scoring record breaks curt kietzer's 1984-85 record of 40 points against mary college (nd, now known as the university of mary) and is only the second player in school history to hit 40 or more points. His eight three-pointers tie josh delich (2000-01 vs. Winona state) and dan torrez (2002-03, vs. Um-morris) for the school mark.
while cadwell was scorching from the floor, junior craig heiman (marshall, wis.) quietly added a 22 point performance of his own, shooting 9-13 from the floor with five rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.. Junior mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) added 15 points and six assists as well.
cadwell, heiman and cunningham accounted for 83 of cu's 101 points.
for upper iowa, dan bestul led four peacocks in double-figurers with 21 points while nick kramer added 18 and matt lesan scored 17.
concordia turned 16 upper iowa turnovers into a 27-15 edge in points off turnovers while committing only 10 of their own.
check www.northernsun.org for complete nsic tournament bracket information.
notes:
cu head coach kelly boe wins his 50th career game, improving to 50-34 in his third season.
cu has scored 100 or more points five times under boe (four times during first year in 2006-07)
last time cu scored 100 was feb. 6, 2007 against north central (110-73)
5th-highest combined point total of 192 points (207, 107-100 def. Martin luther, 2/8/91 at lutheran memorial center (lmc) at home)
matt cadwell is first player to score 30 or more in a game this season (last done by craig heiman, 3 times in 2007-08, last at upper iowa, 32 on 2/16/08)
22nd 30-point game in school history, done by 13 different players
