FREMONT, Neb. – Roughly two months earlier, Midland gave the Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Basketball team all it could handle inside Friedrich Arena. This time around, a still surface-of-the-sun hot Bulldog team buried the Warriors with 53.8 percent shooting in a comfortable 98-73 win in Fremont, Neb., on Wednesday (Jan. 29). Sophomore Jaxon Stueve starred on both ends of the floor while Tristan Smith shook off first-half foul trouble and recorded another 20-point performance.
No one has been able to slow Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad down in the year 2025. The now 13th-ranked Bulldogs (18-4, 11-3 GPAC) have won 11-straight games with only one of those outings decided by a single-digit margin.
“That was an impressive offensive effort,” Limback said. “We were making some early threes. Stueve got off to a great start and Brad (Bennett) got involved. I thought, offensively, we were okay in the first half. Second half was way better with movement. We really shared the ball. Midland was trying to protect the paint against Tristan and Noah (Schutte), which creates openings for shooters. When Noah and Tristan are unselfish like that – we have a lot of guys who can score it.”
There was no emotional letdown for Smith and the crew coming off a dominant title run at the Concordia Invitational Tournament. Midland (10-13, 5-10 GPAC) pulled within four (36-32) late in the first half before the Bulldogs hit the gas and left their in-state rival in the dust. The 19-2 run that spilled into the second half set the tone. Smith rattled off the first six points of the second half and Stueve followed by raining in one of his five treys. The lead had bulged to 21 (55-34) and later grew as large as 28.
Stueve filled it up with a game-high 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the floor. On the other end, the Papillion, Neb., native drew the assignment of defending Warrior star guard Jake Orr, who finished with 14 points on a 6-for-17 effort (with the majority of those points coming after the lead had moved into the 20s). Orr racked up 33 points in the first matchup in Seward. In continuing its stellar defensive work, Concordia limited Midland to 43.9 percent shooting and owned the boards, 43-28.
Said Limback of Stueve, “He’s done this multiple games. CIT championship game, he got us started with two quick threes. He’s shooting it with a lot of confidence, and that’s what you want. You want your guys ready to play. It helps when teams are keying on Tristan and Noah, and they’re making those reads.”
Commented Stueve afterwards, “Defensively, I thought it was our intensity (that was key). We played them in November, and I thought, back then we were kind of slacking on defense. We’ve been working hard in practice, and the coaches had a great scout for us to try and stop Midland. We executed the plan.”
The CIT MVP Smith posted nine rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots to go along with his 20 points in only 21 minutes on Wednesday. Schutte turned in a solid evening with 13 points, seven assists and six rebounds and Bennett dropped 11 points while going 3-for-6 from 3-point range. As a team, Concordia torched the nets with 16-for-31 perimeter shooting. The marksman Bennett crept above 900 career points. Off the bench, Jake Hilkemann added eight points.
Due to Dordt’s loss on Wednesday, the Bulldogs moved within a game of the first-place Defenders (12-2 GPAC). Concordia completed a 9-0 month of January that featured wins over No. 3 Northwestern and No. 11 Dordt.
A return to Friedrich Arena for the first home game since Jan. 18 is coming up on Saturday when Waldorf (3-18, 2-12 GPAC) will make its way to town for a 3:45 p.m. CT tipoff. The two sides met in Forest City, Iowa, on Dec. 14 when the Bulldogs came away with a 103-79 victory. The Warriors had Wednesday night off from game action.