Concordia men’s basketball team tops Dominican 72-59 in front of a packed house on homecoming night

Concordia University Irvine junior Kyle Gray scored a career-high 17 points and a team-high eight rebounds to help the Eagles soar past Dominican.

In front of a packed house on Homecoming Night Saturday, the Concordia men’s basketball team successfully defended the nest against the visiting Dominican Penguins and improved to 6-0 at home against PacWest Conference foes.

Brian Chambers scored 19 points and dished out eight assists, Kyle Gray added a career-high 17 points and the Eagles scored 23 points off of 20 Dominican turnovers to pull away for a 72-59 victory.

Gray played extended minutes after starting guard Jamel White came up gingerly on one leg early in the first half.  The junior from Laverne cashed in on multiple drives to the basket and shot 8-for-11 from the floor for easily his best offensive output of the season.

Gray also finished with a team-high eight rebounds, tying his career-high for that category.  He had previously tallied eight boards against San Francisco State and Seattle Pacific.

“Kyle’s been a sparkplug for us,” said Chambers, who also had three steals.  “I love having him on the team and he really helps our defense.”

“Kyle made some big shots for us and our bench played with good energy once again,” said Concordia Coach Ken Ammann. “They have been very consistent with that.”

Robert Taylor, Cameron English and Pac West freshman of the week Kayle Knuckles had eight points while Australian products Geoff Gerlach and Austin Clarke each chipped in with six.

Concordia (15-7, 11-2 PacWest) won for the fourth time in its last five games and owns an impressive 7-1 home record.  The only loss for the Eagles at CU Arena this season came in a non-conference affair against Seattle Pacific over winter break.

On Saturday, the Eagles enjoyed a lift from a ton of familiar faces who were back on campus to celebrate Homecoming weekend.  Earlier in the day, the Concordia softball and baseball teams each held their Alumni Games and the CUI athletics department inducted six new members into the Kenneth A. Walker Hall of Fame.

“The crowd was great and gave us a huge lift tonight,” said Ammann.

The second-place Eagles now have an entire week to prepare for their next home contest which will be against first-place Point Loma (18-2, 14-0 PacWest).  Both teams are chasing first-round byes in the upcoming PacWest Conference Tournament which will be hosted in early March by Dominican.

The first of two meetings between the top two teams in the league comes this Saturday, Feb. 2 at CU Arena.  The men’s game will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. following the conclusion of the women’s contest which will tip at 5:30 p.m.

-Story courtesy Ben Rosehart