mankato, minn. - pictures are worth a thousand words. For this game, the looks on the faces of the golden bears say it all. They worked hard and fought their way to a tie ball game at half at 39 with the fourth-ranked team and one of nine unbeatens in division ii baskteball. It wasn't easy, but they pounded the ball down low and played aggressive defense, trailing by just three, 58-55 with 11:40 to play. That's when concordia university ran out of steam as they went on a drought of nearly seven and a half minutes without a field goal during which minnesota state rallied for a 21-2 run on their way to an 84-63 win at taylor center. The win keeps the mavericks undefeated (15-0, 8-0 nsic) while the golden bears fall a game below .500 overall (7-8, 4-4 nsic). box score
they came out hot, scoring the first five points of the game starting with a three-pointer by senior mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) nearly a minute and a half into play. Four seconds later, senior sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) picked jesse clark, one of the nation's leaders in assist-turnover ratio, and dashed to the basket for a layup.
just 89 seconds into the game, the top team in the northern sun was forced to call a timeout. The mavericks responded well to their early in-game tutelage, scoring the next six including one of five dunks by jefferson mason who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds on perfect 8-8 shooting.
the first half remained tight with six ties and six lead changes with concordia holding the largest lead of the half at six, 25-19 with 7:51 to play.
in the first half, concordia had three players with seven points, ricks, cunningham and junior andrew kuderer (eden prairie, minn.). Ricks had three assists and one turnover as well. Seven different players had at least four points in a well balanced half and they turned nine offensive rebounds into nine second chance points as they pounded the glass hard against one of the best rebounding teams in the league.
the teams continued to fight for a lead in the second half as there were five lead changes and one tie in the first five minutes of the second half before minnesota state finally took the lead for good, putting an exclamation point on that lead with their large 21-2 run.
the golden bears struggled from the floor in the second half, hitting just 31.0% (9-29) adn knocking down only two of their nine three-point attempts. After a first half in which they hit eight of their nine free throws, they made just four of eight in the second. Minnesota state, meanwhile, connected at a 53.1% (17-32) rate in the final period.
msu ended up winning the rebounding margin handily, 43-32, thanks to a 26-13 second half effort. Concordia, who grabbed nine first half offensive rebounds leading to nine second chance points, couldn't continue their success down low with just four offensive rebounds and four second chance points down the stretch.
concordia was led by kuderer's 13 points on 4-7 shooting as he drilled 3-5 from long range, knocking down three three-pointers for the third straight game. Ricks finished with 10 as did sophomore post brent barz (johnston, iowa). Barz missed a double-double by a rebound with five of his nine coming on the offensive glass. He also had three steals.
off the bench, posts dan vandervieren (eden prairie, minn.) and thomas bassett (denison, iowa) were solid. Vandervieren had eight points, five rebounds and three blocks while bassett worked his way to six points and four rebounds.
aside from those two, though, concordia's bench shot 0-9 from the floor with five turnovers.
the golden bears leaders, seniors cunningham and craig heiman (marshall, wis.) combined to shoot 6-21 from the field, 1-5 from three-point range with six turnovers. Heiman had six points and four rebounds (all offensive) but was riddled with foul trouble. Cunningham had nine points and four assists for cu.
msu had four players in double-figures led by mason and his punishing of the taylor center rims. Joe drapcho contributed 13 points and nine rebounds.
concordia continues a tough winter road trip tomorrow evening when they face southwest minnesota state in marshall, minn. At 8:00 p.m. At the r/a facility.
