st. Paul, minn. - the concordia university men's basketball team dished out 31 assists on 41 team field goals while committing just nine turnovers in a dominant effort tonight as they defeated bemidji state 110-76 in northern sun play at gangelhoff center. Concordia improves to 6-7 on the season, 3-3 in league play while bsu falls to 5-8, 2-5. Tomorrow, concordia will host minnesota duluth who is 6-8, 3-4 nsic to complete a pivotal league weekend series. box score
concordia's 31 assists edge out their 30 in the 110-78 win over judson on december 18 while winning by nearly the exact same margin. It's the seventh time cu has topped 100 points in head coach kelly boe's four year tenure as he has now beaten bemidji state six of seven times.
with a breakout individual performance against judson scoring 23 points, freshman guard isaiah thomas (fridley, minn.) came off the bench tonight to deliver 21 points on 8-13 shooting while hitting 5-6 from three-point range in just 23 minutes of action. He also had three steals and a pair of assists while putting up his second 20-plus point scoring performance of his young career.
also scoring 21 for concordia was senior craig heiman (marshall, wis.) who shot 8-13, knocking down three three-pointers in 22 minutes. For the first time in his career (98 games), he was held without a rebound.
but rebounding was hardly an issue for concordia, a team that has drastically improved their team rebounding this season. For just the fourth time of the year, the squad was outrebounded by a healthy 42-33 margin.
three-point shooting also favored the golden bears heavily as the squad knocked down a season high 15 trey's in 27 attempts (.556) with six different players connecting. The beavers countered by hitting just 30.4% (7-23) from long range.
however, looking at the other superlatives, it didn't matter. Bsu had 17 offensive boards to concordia's 10, but concordia still managed to keep pace in second chance scoring at 11 apiece.
despite the rebounding, concordia controlled the paint. Offensively, the golden bears rolled up 48 in the lane including dunks by heiman and senior guard sammy ricks (st. Paul, minn.). Ricks' slam was impressive as the 5-11 speedster slashed through the lane, nearly uncontested, and was able to elevate enough to throw it down. Ricks finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals. He did not commit a turnover and shot 4-5 from the floor, burying his only two three-point attempts.
the concordia defense, meanwhile, used six blocked shots, three coming by the long, 6-10 sophomore post brent barz (johnston, iowa). Their aggressive post defense limited the beavers to just 22 points in the paint all night as they attempted 23 three-pointers to compensate. Barz finished with an impressive all-around performance, shooting 8-13 from the field for 19 points while leading cu with six rebounds, nabbing four steals and dishing three assists all in only 22 minutes of time.
the golden bears took care of the ball with just nine turnovers while defensively forcing 20, turning it into a 25-11 advantage in points off turnovers. For a team that has been near the bottom of the league all season in turnover margin, entering with a -3.75, tonight was just what the doctor order with a +11 in that department. Barz and ricks each had four while thomas had three steals.
the passing was also impressive as the 31 assists came from all over the floor. Junior guard courtney tyler (eagan, minn.) led the team with a season high seven while ricks and senior mike cunningham (minneapolis, minn.) each dished five. Tyler also scored six points, had a season high five rebounds and only committed one turnover. Cunningham added 11 points, five rebounds and was also turnover free.
the only oddity was junior forward sylvester walker (st. Paul, minn.) who finally missed his first shot after making his first six field goals of the season. Tonight, he was 3-4, hitting his first three before missing his fourth. He is now 6-7 from the floor on the season. He had six points and three assists including some highlight reel passes.
all said, concordia had five players reach double-figures, three with 19-plus points and another, junior guard andrew kuderer (eden prairie, minn.), with nine points. Kuderer knocked down three three-pointers as well.
for the beavers, one of the top scorers in the northern sun, seth haake, dropped in 19 points and seven rebounds. He delivered four of his five three-pointers. Two other beavers, jake lindstrom and noah shepherd, scored in double-figures off the bench with 12 and 11, respectively. Bsu shot 17-20 at the foul line as they continue to be one of the best free throw shooting squads in the nation, entering play 14th in division ii and converting an impressive 85.0% tonight.
concordia's win snaps a three-game losing streak and evens their home record at 4-4 on the year. Concordia improves to 9-0 when topping 90 points under boe and 23-4 when eclipsing 80.
