SEWARD, Neb. – The action on New Year’s Day sharply contrasted the pace of play in the win at Ottawa University (Kan.) three days earlier. The transition game was kept in check so the 23rd-ranked Concordia University Men’s Basketball team got tough on the defensive end in the process of pulling out a 60-50 home win over Doane. The Bulldogs flustered the Tigers into shooting 33.9 percent from the floor.
Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad owns a four-game win streak within the conference and has kept its perch atop the GPAC standings at 7-2 within the league (14-3 overall). This Concordia team has many ways to skin a cat – or a Tiger.
“We wanted to get the new year off to a get start,” Limback said. “I thought they did a great job of controlling the tempo. We couldn’t get out in transition as much, but we got it done defensively. I’m really proud of our effort, especially the last two minutes. I thought we had some suffocating possessions when it mattered.”
The Bulldog man-to-man squeezed the life out of Doane down the stretch. A Brady Timm basket with 6:03 left in the game got the Tigers within three (53-50). Doane proceeded to miss its final nine shots from the floor while going scoreless over the closing six minutes. AJ Watson helped put the finishing touches on the victory with a trey and a pair of free throws in that closing stanza.
In a low possession contest, Concordia shot a respectable 46.0 percent (23-for-50) from the floor. Justin Wiersema put forth a strong showing in posting 14 points while knocking down three triples (in addition to a team high seven rebounds and two steals). He was joined in double figures by three teammates: Gage Smith (13), Watson (12) and Noah Schutte (11). Carter Kent was limited to four points, but his defensive play was a key factor in containing Doane leading scorer Anthony Laravie.
“It just shows our versatility,” Wiersema said of how the Bulldogs find ways to win. “Their game plan was to slow us up. They know we’re a fast-paced team and we like to run the floor. We tried to take that to our advantage. It was definitely a defensive battle today, but we ended up making enough shots.”
Doane (10-7, 3-4 GPAC) kept coming despite being down 10 midway through the first half (its only lead came after the game’s first basket). The Tigers got 15 points from Josiah Gardner and 14 from Alec Oberhauser. However, Doane struggled mightily to score from the perimeter. Guards Laravie and Brady Timm went a combined 4-for-22 from the floor.
Concordia has won five of the past six meetings with the Tigers and has pushed its home winning streak to 12. This is a team that is showing the type of game-to-game focus that it will need to carry throughout the remaining weeks of the regular season.
“This team is hungry,” Limback said. “They want to compete for the league title. I think they understand you have to win each game and you have to win each day in practice. I didn’t think we came out as hungry throughout the game as we could have. I told them at the end, defensively that’s what we’re capable of. There are definitely goals within the locker room and I think they understand the process of how you get to those goals.”
The Bulldogs will be back on the road on Wednesday for a 7:45 p.m. CT tipoff at Mount Marty (4-14, 0-9 GPAC) in a matchup of teams at opposite ends of the GPAC standings. In this season’s first meeting, Concordia pulled away from the Lancers for an 87-72 home win. The Bulldogs have won four in row in the series.