SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Concordia University men's basketball team (18-10, 14-8 NSIC) ran away from Sioux Falls (8-20, 5-17 NSIC) in the second half as they closed out the regular season with a 70-59 win. The victory gave the Golden Bears their highest win total in conference play since they joined the NSIC with 14 on the year.
The win sends Concordia into the NSIC/Sanford Health Tournament on a high note having won their last three in a row, all by double digits. Concordia, the third-seeded team in the NSIC South, will host U-Mary, the sixth-seeded team in the NSIC North in the opening round of the tournament on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
In addition, Concordia's 18th win matched the third highest total in program history. The team previous won 18 games in 1976-77 (18-9) and 2004-05 (18-11). The only two teams to record more wins were the 1993-94 team (20-9) and the 2006-07 team (21-8).
The efficient shooting continued for the Golden Bears as they connected on 55.0% (22-40) from the floor. This marked the second night in a row and fifth time on the season that Concordia shot 55.0 or higher in a game. CU connected on 63.6% (7-11) from three and 79.2% (19-24) from the free throw line as well.
The scoring was balanced for Concordia as eight different players scored at least five points in the game.
Nuni Omot,
Josh Monroy and
Cole Olstad all scored in double figures for the Golden Bears.
Monroy put up his second consecutive impressive night as he flirted with a double-double with 12 points and eight boards along with a pair of blocks in just 16 minutes. He was nearly perfect from the floor as he connected on 4-5 as well as a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.
Omot was also extremely efficient as he also hit 4-5 from the floor while going 4-6 from the free throw line to finish with 13 points. He has now scored in double figures in eight straight and 14 of his last 15.
Olstad finished the night with 11 points and grabbed three rebounds in 35 minutes of play.
The defense was also solid as Concordia limited Sioux Falls to 37.3% (19-51) shooting and 28.6% (6-21) from beyond the arc on the night.
Mack Johnson carried the scoring load for USF as he put up a game-high 26 points. It didn't come easy, though, as he went 9-19 from the floor and just 4-12 from three-point range to get there. He was joined by Bryan Kielpinski and Charles Ward in double figures.
Rebounding also played a positive role for the Golden Bears as they collected 30 boards compared to 22 for USF.
For much of the first half, both teams struggled to gain much of an upper hand as neither team was able to grab a lead bigger than three until the 8:43 mark of the half as scoring was at a premium. The first 11-plus minutes featured four ties and three lead changes before Concordia began to take over.
The Golden Bears scored five straight to take an 18-13 lead with 8:43 left in the half. After a three for USF, Concordia grabbed nine of the next 11 points to give them their largest lead of the half at 27-18. Sioux Falls rebounded over the final five minutes as they held CU off the board and scored the final seven points to pull within two at 27-25 going into the break.
Concordia quickly pushed their lead to double figures in the second half with a 10-2 run in the first two and a half minutes. The Golden Bears were firmly in control the rest of the way as they didn't see their lead shrink below six for the remainder of the night.
The latest the Cougars would have it below a ten point deficit was at 56-49 with 5:51 to play but a 6-0 CU run pushed the lead out to 62-49, the largest lead at that point. The lead reached as large as 17 at 67-50 as the Golden Bears cruised to a 70-59 win in the final game of the regular season.
