Guard Jamel White scored Concordia’s first six points Saturday as the Eagles earned their first win of the season with a furious second half rally against Drury University. (Photo courtesy Troy Makalena)
Just two games into the young season, the Concordia University Irvine men’s basketball team has already proven it can never be counted out of any game.
For the second time in two days, the Eagles erased a double-digit lead in the second half against a tough non-conference opponent in the Disney DII Tip-Off Classic. On Saturday, Concordia received a big boost from its bench and was able to fend off Drury University by a count of 65-62 down the stretch.
Newcomers Austin Clarke and Kyle Gray led the charge after the Eagles fell behind 48-31. Clarke paced the Eagles with 16 points and Gray added 13 points and three steals to pick up the slack after the starters struggled to find their rhythm out of the gate.
“Once we got down, we knew we had to lift our energy to finish out with a win,” said Clarke. “I definitely felt more comfortable out there today and I attribute that to my teammates. We were feeding off of each other and getting more comfortable with each other’s playing styles.”
Clarke sank four treys and also led CUI with seven boards. He broke a 60-60 tie with a three-pointer with less than two minutes left in regulation and then Gray scored on a layup to put the game out of reach. Gray went a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and converted five of his six free throw attempts as well.
The Eagles trailed for the majority of the game until Gray came up with a steal and sank two freebies after getting fouled with about three minutes and change to play.
“We took way too long to show some fight today but when we finally did we really battled,” said Concordia Coach Ken Ammann. “Also, it’s one thing to scrap back into the game and another to do that and then actually pull off the win against a disciplined well-coached program like Drury. Our guys off the bench were sensational and got it done for us today.”
“It felt good and everyone was excited especially coming off a tough loss yesterday, but the way we finished today, everyone was ecstatic,” added Clarke.
Transfer guard Jamel White carried the offense in the early going. White scored Concordia’s first six points but the Eagles had to play catch up for most of the first half and trailed 38-28 at halftime.
Brian Chambers added 12 points and fellow senior Geoff Gerlach collected six points and six rebounds.
EAGLES DROP OPENER IN TOURNAMENT
In Friday’s opener, senior Brian Chambers scored 24 points and newcomer Rob Taylor added 14 points and six steals in his Concordia debut, but the Eagles came up short in their season opener, falling to Embry-Riddle University 72-69.
Geoff Gerlach tied the game at 61 on a tip-in moments after Taylor had scored back-to-back layups to knot the game at 59. Those baskets were huge because Concordia had rallied back from a double digit deficit.
The Green and Gold trailed by as many as 11 in the second half but fought back in large part to their defense. Concordia forced 22 turnovers and came away with 13 steals as the squad continued to gain confidence down the stretch.
“The turnovers were huge for us,” said Ammann. “We did a good job of speeding them up and taking them out of their offense.”
Taylor had an opportunity to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation, but the iron was unkind on his off-balance three-point attempt and E,mbry-Riddle collected the rebound to preserve the win.
CUI led 15-10 early but then Embry-Riddle grabbed the lead thanks to a 9-2 run midway through the first half. Concordia trailed by five at halftime after Elijah Jenkins sunk a buzzer-beating trey to give Embry-Riddle a 37-32 cushion.
Chambers scored 11 of Concordia’s first 17 points and was a handful for the the Eagles all day. He made all six of his shots from the free throw line and helped set the tone on offense. As a team, Concordia was solid at the charity stripe, converting on 16 of 19 attempts.
The Concordia coaching staff was encouraged that their group was able to draw even on multiple occasions, but the Eagles were unable to hold the lead for a long period of time.
“The difference was they were able to get high percentage shots in the second half and we couldn’t get enough stops to get over the hump and get a lead,” Ammann said.
One area that hurt the Eagles was rebounding. Embry-Riddle collected 42 rebounds while Concordia managed only 26.
“I was very happy with how hard we played and how well we competed together today,” added Ammann. “We can fix the problems that made it difficult to win today. When we tighten up our defense, learn to move the ball better and play with more discipline, we will be a tough team to beat.”
-Ben Rosehart, For OC Sports Zone
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