Concordia University 83, Dordt College 75 (view stats)
Concordia University earned an 83-75 win over Dordt College on Saturday afternoon in GPAC men’s basketball. Concordia improved to 11-6 overall and 6-2 in conference play with the win. Dordt dropped to 9-6 overall and 1-5 in the GPAC with the loss.
Dordt College led by as many as six (20-14) in the first 20 minutes. Concordia, however, closed the half on a 24-9 run to take a 38-29 lead into halftime. The Bulldogs extended the lead early in the second half and held a double-digit lead for a good portion of the final half. The Defenders attempted to rally late and pulled within four at 75-71 with just over two minutes remaining. However, solid free throw shooting down the stretch secured the 83-75 win for the Bulldogs.
Dordt College held a 38-28 advantage in points in the paint and an 8-5 advantage in fast break points. Concordia held a slim 15-14 advantage in points off turnovers and a 10-7 advantage in second chance points. The Concordia bench came up big once again in the win. The Bulldog bench scored 28 points compared to just five points for the Dordt College bench.
Concordia hit 26-of-52 shots in the game for an even 50 percent. The Bulldogs were 7-of-20 from the three point line for 35 percent and a solid 24-of-29 from the free throw line for 82.8 percent. Dordt College was 29-of-63 from the field in the contest for 46 percent. The Defenders were 5-of-13 from the three point line for 38.5 percent and 12-of-20 from the charity stripe for 60 percent.
The inside and outside combination of Porter Birtell and Ryan Shrum was very effective for Concordia in the win. Shrum hit six 3-pointers and scored a team-high 20 points off the bench for the Bulldogs. Birtell scored 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field and pulled down nine rebounds. Ryan Railey also added 15 points and was 8-of-8 from the free throw line for Concordia.
Michael Eekhoff and Logan Kingma each had big games for Dordt College in defeat. Eekhoff scored a game-high 36 points on 16-of-23 shooting from the field, and Kingma added 25 points and nine boards for the Defenders.