winona, minn. - the golden bears had the defending ncaa division ii national champions in a 10 point hole at the intermission, holding a 44-34 lead. But #25 winona state came out of the gates in the second half ready to continue their reign in the northern sun, bursting to a 23-4 run over the first six and a half minutes of play to build a nine point lead on their way to defeating concordia university 87-79 at mccown gymnasium in the nsic/sanford health men's basketball tournament first round. box score
the golden bears, whose strong late season play moved them up to the no. 7 seed, were staring the three-time defending nsic tournament champions in the face. Winona state had won the first 31 meetings in the all-time series before cu plucked a win back on december 4, a 75-74 nail biter that gave the golden bears their first ever win against wsu.
the road underdogs were poised to strike the defending national champs for a second straight time as hot first half three-point shooting sent them surging ahead. In the opening frame, concordia hit 8-16 from three-point range. Concordia used a 13-4 edge in bench scoring thanks to a trio of first half three's from sophomore forward matt hackl (seymour, wis.) while outrebounding the hosts 19-14.
junior forward craig heiman (marshall, wis.) picked up where he left off at mccown gymasium, scoring 15 points in the first half on 6-9 shooting including 3-5 from long distance. In the first meeting, heiman netted the warriors for 25 points without a three.
with concordia shoring up their three-point shooting in this matchup (they were only 2-8 in the first game), while continuing to command the paint with a first half rebounding advantage.
but the warriors, who struggled from long range in the first half, got things going in the second half as they put down seven of their 13 treys in the second half while cu's outside shooting reverse as they only connected on three of their 13 from the outside.
heiman finished the night with 23 points and seven rebounds to lead concordia.
the concordia bench received a boost from sophomore guard andrew kuderer (eden prairie, minn.) who produced season-highs of 12 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes of work.
in the second half, concordia found themselves trailing by as many as 12 points with 8:21 to play.
they didn't allow the home team to steal the momentum for good, as they chipped their way back into the game.
trailing by 12, kuderer was fouled on a three-pointer that he converted, sinking the free throw for a pivotal four point play bringing concordia back to a 67-59 game with 7:21 to play - keeping cu's playoff hopes alive.
after a defensive stop by the golden bears, junior guard sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) plugged a jumper on the baseline to cut the wsu lead to six points. Ricks would pick up the steal he needed in the game to officially claim the single season steals record to himself, finishing the year with 76, one more than josh delich's (1999-00) previous record of 75.
a three-pointer by david johnson minutes later pushed the lead back to 10 with just over six minutes to play, again pushing the momentum back to the home team.
at that point in the game, cu sensing defeat and wearing down with fatigure, an unlikely event transpired that slowed the game down. Winona state post joel armstrong was forced out of the game with an apparent cut on his elbow, stopping the game as the officials searched the floor for drips to clear the hardwood.
after the few minute layoff, concordia returned with a vengeance. They were able to trim the lead back to five points on two different occasions but key misses in the lane doomed concordia down the stretch. The first was a missed lay-in by junior guard mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) that rolled around the rim and out at 3:23 that would've cut the deficit to three.
the second costly miss came at 1:53 when heiman grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed ricks three-pointer. He drove back up hard to the rim and was short on the put-back with wsu collecting the rebound.
the warriors were able to convert their free throws down the stretch, hitting 19-21 for the night.
four golden bears reached double-figures on the evening as cunningham had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven assists while ricks had 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists to join heiman and kuderer's 23 and 12, respectively.
concordia shot a mere 32.7% (12-37) from the floor in the second half, finishing the evening 41.4% (29-70). They outrebounded wsu 40-30 on the night but the warriors were far more efficient shooters, finishing 50.9% (29-57) from the floor.
guards travis whipple and david johnson each put up 20 point efforts with whipple also producing 10 assists and five rebounds.
with the win, winona state will serve as the host for both the men's and women's nsic/sanford health basketball tournaments this weekend. The golden bear women advanced with a win earlier in the evening at #1 minnesota state and will face augustana. Winona state men host st. Cloud state, with the huskies sweeping the warriors in regular season play.
