WICHITA, Kan. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's basketball team (0-1) dropped their season opener in heartbreaking fashion as a late three-point play for Newman (1-0) with five seconds to play handed CSP an 85-83 loss on Saturday night in the MIAA/NSIC Conference Challenge.
The Golden Bears led by as many as a dozen in the second half before a late surge put the hosts on top in their home opener. Senior
Jordan Horn put CSP back in front at 83-82 with nine seconds to go, but Stevie Strong followed with an old fashioned three-point play to give the Jets a two-point victory.
In their third consecutive meeting in the first game of the year, Newman broke the deadlock as CSP fell to 1-2 against NU while
Matt Fletcher dropped to 2-2 in four season opening contests at Concordia.
Concordia dominated on the glass as they held a 42-26 edge in rebounding, including a 12-7 edge on the offensive glass. CSP was also the more efficient of the two squads as they hit 47.2% (25-53) from the floor while holding the Jets to 44.1% (26-59). Both teams got to the free throw line early and often as Concordia hit 24-29 (82.8%) and Newman connected on 23-29 (79.3%).
Turnovers proved to be the undoing for the Golden Bears as their 16 turnovers turned into 28 points for the Jets while they converted seven NU turnovers into 10 points on the other end.
Junior
Marcus Skeete was highly efficient as Concordia's top scorer in the contest as he hit 9-12 from the floor and a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line to finish with 27 points. His total was the second highest of his career as he also added six boards and a pair of assists.
Senior
Jordan Horn had a strong Golden Bear debut as he totaled 17 points on 6-14 shooting and 5-11 from deep while pulling down seven boards on the night. Freshman
Ben Kopetzki also scored in double figures in his debut as he needed just five shots to score 14 points, hitting 3-5 from the floor and 6-6 from the charity stripe.
Japannah Kellogg was a major presence on the glass as he led all players with 12 rebounds while
Antwan Kimmons tallied nine points, four assists and two boards in the loss.
Stevie Strong was the focal point of the Newman attack as he poured in a game-best 37 points on 10-17 shooting and 14-15 from the line in the win.
The game's opening 20 minutes saw very little separation between the two schools with five ties and seven lead changes throughout the half with neither team leading by more than five. After six points from Skeete and a
Will Boser bucket sparked an 8-2 run to give CSP an 11-7 lead just over five minutes into the contest, Newman responded with 10 of the next 12 to build a 17-13 advantage at the 11:47 mark. The game of runs continued with seven in a row for Concordia before eight straight for the Jets gave the hosts their largest lead of the half at 25-20.
Newman remained out front by four at 28-24 with 3:38 left in the period, but it was the Golden Bears' turn to make a push as a 10-2 burst made it 34-30 in their favor less than a minute and a half later. CSP eventually took a 36-34 lead into the break.
Concordia quickly claimed the first six points of the second half to build a 42-34 lead less than a minute after the break, but the Jets had it back down to three following five straight points of their own. The Golden Bears were back on the offensive from there as they scored eight of the next 11 points as a part of a larger 15-8 burst to push their lead to double figures at 57-47 with 13:14 to play. The back and forth continued as NU closed the gap to one possession at 57-54 less than two minutes later before another CSP run, this time a 13-4 stretch, gave them their largest lead of the night at 70-58 with 8:52 left on the clock.
The Golden Bears were unable to hang on, however, as Strong took over down the stretch. A 14-3 run closed the gap to one at 73-72 with 3:10 to play, but CSP held onto that lead until the final minute of play as they led 80-77 with 1:19 on the clock. Chase Weibe tied the game with 56 seconds to go with his first three points of the game before Strong hit a pair at the line at the 25 second mark to give the Jets their first lead of the half at 82-80. Horn appeared to knock down a game-winning three with nine seconds to go, but Strong completed and-one just four seconds later to bring his total to 37 points while sealing an 85-83 victory for the hosts.
The Golden Bears are back in action tomorrow afternoon as they take on Rogers State at 1 p.m.
