st. Paul, minn. - it's hard to overcome a team that converts 35 free throws at nearly an 80 percent rate, especially when trying to complete a comeback from a 14 point deficit. In the end, st. Cloud state (10-2, 4-1 nsic) made enough free throws to put away host concordia university (5-7, 2-3 nsic) in an 89-80 win for the huskies at gangelhoff center. Senior craig heiman (marshall, wis.) scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half as he drained 6-10 three-pointers to lead concordia. box score
concordia started hot, coming out with the first seven points in the opening 92 seconds of play. They extended the lead to 18-10 at the 14:24 mark and didn't surrender their lead during the first 12:49 of play when scsu's nate phillips converted a free throw at the 7:11 mark to force the game's first tie at 24.
the phillips free throw was the fifth consecutive point of what would turn into an 18-0 run by st. Cloud state as they took control of the game, opening up a 37-24 lead when concordia junior courtney tyler (eagan, minn.) finally converted a layup to end the near five minute long dryspell.
concordia would finish the second half strong, scoring six of the final eight points with junior chris hamblin (eagan, minn.) flushing the final score of the half on an inside feed from senior thomas bassett (denison, iowa) before the break to go into halftime down 39-30.
in the second half, scsu took control early, pushing the lead to their largest margin, a 46-32 lead with still over 16 minutes of action to go.
the golden bears used a 15-4 run in response with two three's by heiman and one by tyler. Concordia had new life trailing 50-47 and would force a turnover to gain possession with a chance to tie.
unfortunately, concordia turned the ball right back over to scsu and the huskies capitalized with a three-pointer as they scored 29 points off of concordia's 16 turnovers while cu managed only 18 points off st. Cloud's 13 miscues. The huskies would push the lead back to 11, 64-53, with 6:10 to go.
again, concordia made a run, bringing the margin back to six, 64-58 when senior sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.) delivered a three-pointer with just over five minutes left.
but st. Cloud state responded once again by pushing the deficit back to double-figures with a 78-66 lead and only 98 seconds to play in the game.
a three-pointer by heiman, a husky turnover on the inbounds and another heiman three cut the score back to six just 13 seconds later.
husky-leading scorer taylor witt stepped to the line for two, having already made his first 12 free throws. He made the first before finally missing his 14th attempt of the night.
on offense, concordia went right back to heiman, who was fouled on his 25 foot three-pointer. After making all three free throws, concordia had the score back to a four point game with 1:04 to play.
witt converted two more free throws with a minute to go and on concordia's ensuing possession, a rarity occurred. Ricks committed his first turnover of the season in the final five minutes of play, with the huskies taking advantage for a fastbreak to matt schneck, who was fouled hard by sophomore brent barz (johnston, iowa). His fifth personal foul was ruled an intentional foul and schneck would turn his layup and potential three-point play into a four point play with scsu retaining possession of the ball.
with their bonus possession, scsu dropped in yet another free throw, this one by brett putz, extending the husky lead back to 11, 86-75, ending concordia's late comeback attempt.
witt finished the night 16-18 at the line, just missing out on scsu's free throw record, while the team converted 35-44 of their free chances, again, just one shy of the team record for a game. Witt and schneck each scored 25 for the huskies. Witt added six assists while schneck led scsu with nine rebounds, five offensive. Inside the arc and not at the free throw line, witt was bottled-up, missing all seven of his two-point attempts, but was 3-4 from long distance and nearly perfect at the line. Schneck made 10-13 from the floor and 5-7 at the line.
the golden bears converted 10 of their 21 three-pointers for the game, going 8-12 from long range in the second half alone. But their poor shooting in the first half, shooting 2-9 from three and 2-5 at the line including a missed front-end of a bonus were a huge set back in their comeback efforts.
ricks finished with 15 points, shooting 6-10 from the floor and 3-4 from three-point range and had four assists. Barz had 12 points and five rebounds before fouling out in 21 minutes and junior dan vandervieren (eden prairie, minn.) had a team-high nine rebounds with four points off the bench. Bassett also was productive in the post with eight points and six rebounds with three assists. He also fouled out in 16 minutes of action.
concordia returns home next friday and saturday in league play to face bemidji state and minnesota duluth for 8:00 p.m. Tip-offs as they conclude a six game homestand.
