MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Concordia Golden Bears men's basketball team (4-1) dropped their first contest of the season as their late push against Florida Tech (4-1) fell just short in a 95-89 loss in the Florida Tech Thanksgiving Tournament Championship on Saturday afternoon.
CSP fell just short of matching their best start in program history as they nearly erased an 18 point second half deficit. The Golden Bears continued to shoot at an extremely high clip as they surpassed 50.0% from the floor for the third time in five games this season, putting up a season-high mark of 57.1% (32-56). Concordia also registered double-digit threes made for the fourth time on the season by hitting 11-26 (42.3%). FIT was also efficient offensively as they shot 48.3% (29-60) from the floor and 45.2% (14-31) from deep.
The Golden Bears dominated in nearly every statistical category as they finished with a 33-28 edge in rebounding, an 11-2 edge in second chance points, a 29-10 edge in bench scoring and a 40-20 edge in points in the paint, but turnovers proved to be the difference as Florida Tech held a 26-13 edge in points off of turnovers on the day.
Bryndan Matthews saw his streak of three consecutive double-doubles come to a close, but the senior put up yet another efficient effort as he shot 50.0% or better for the fifth game in a row with a team-best 24 points on 9-13 from the floor. He filled the stat sheet elsewhere as well with eight boards and seven assists as he flirted with the triple-double.
Isaiah McKay was solid again with 17 points on 7-12 shooting and 3-6 from three to go along with five rebounds and four assists while
Cody Carlson chipped in 12 points on 5-7 from the floor off the bench.
Antonis Pefanis led the way with 25 points, including five threes, while RJ Coil double-doubled with 20 points and 12 boards in the win for the Panthers.
Concordia opened with the first five points of the contest, but the Panthers quickly turned it around with the next 11 to take an 11-5 lead at the 15:51 mark. The Golden Bears kept it within two possessions for much of the rest of the half and pulled even at 21-21 at the midway point following an 8-2 run before FIT went back out front.
Back-to-back buckets for the Panthers set up a string of threes on five consecutive possessions as both teams showcased their perimeter shooting. With CSP still within three at 34-31, an 11-0 run spanning three minutes pushed the Florida Tech lead to the largest of the half at 47-33 with 3:24 to go. Concordia cut it back to single digits at 47-38 before the Panthers extended it back to double figures at 52-42 heading to the break.
After three early free throws for FIT to start the second half, the Golden Bears answered with six straight points to close the gap to 55-48 with 16:42 to play. That would be all the closer they would get, however, as Florida Tech took over from there. An 8-0 run a few minutes later for the Panthers doubled their lead as they ballooned it out to 16 at 67-51 before they held a comfortable lead for a good portion of the half.
The lead grew to as many as 18 at 82-64 with 9:21 left, but the Golden Bears chipped away over the next six minutes as they put together a 16-4 run to shrink the lead to six at 86-80. The run continued from there as CSP followed a pair of Panther free throws with nine of the next 13 points to make it a one possession game at 92-89 with 1:19 to go in the game. Concordia had a chance to cut it to one after a Florida Tech turnover, but an offensive goaltending call took two points off the board for Concordia and kept it at 92-89. The Panthers took care of business at the free throw line from there as they knocked down three of four to seal a 95-89 victory.
The Golden Bears open up conference action on the road next Saturday at 4 p.m. as they travel to Minnesota State. CSP then remains on the road for two more road games before returning home on Dec. 14-15 for their NSIC home opening weekend against Upper Iowa and Winona State.
