SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – A career-high 21 points for Zac Kulus wasn’t enough to save the Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Basketball team from a road defeat on Saturday (Dec. 13). Dordt pulled away from the 24th-ranked Bulldogs with a 13-2 second half run on the way to an 84-71 victory in Sioux Center, Iowa. The Defenders shot 50.9 percent from the floor and enjoyed a 42-30 rebound advantage.
Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad found the road unkind this week as it also slipped up at Midland on Wednesday. Concordia’s record stands at 8-4 overall (5-2 GPAC).
“They’re well-coached and did what they needed to do, especially in the second half,” Limback said of Dordt. “We had the lead at halftime – I thought we guarded okay. In the second half, I think we started to second-guess things. We started to second-guess at the free throw line. We started to second-guess some passes. We were a little bit hesitant on offense. When you’re not the alpha dog, the other team is going to feed off it. Thirty-four for them had a heck of game. He was an animal … Dordt got it rolling. They’re hard to stop when they get the three going.”
It was nip and tuck inside De Witt Gymnasium for roughly the game’s first 30 minutes. The Bulldogs edged in front, 57-56, on a Kulus trey at the 11:46 mark of the second half. Dordt responded with the aforementioned 13-2 run that provided it a 69-59 lead with fewer than seven minutes remaining. Concordia soon clawed back within six before the Defenders delivered the knockout blow in the form of a Ty Van Essen trey.
Van Essen was the player referenced by Limback in his postgame remarks. The senior forward finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. Junior guard Connor Millikan (19 points and 11 rebounds) also turned in a double-double for Dordt (7-6, 4-3 GPAC), which went 2-0 at home on the week. The Defenders burned the Bulldogs by making 13-of-32 (.406) shots from 3-point range. Jake Proctor and Asa Rogosich canned four triples apiece.
The sharpshooting of Kulus (5-for-7 from beyond the arc) kept the Bulldogs close for much of the night. Kulus added two steals to his stat line. Concordia’s other double figure scorers on Saturday were Brooks Kissinger (12), Tate Odvody (12) and Jaxon Stueve (11). Point guard Dane Jacobsen contributed nine points, six rebounds and four assists. In addition to being outrebounded, the Bulldogs struggled from the foul line (10-for-22). They shot 44.6 percent (25-for-56) from the field. Concordia held a 40-34 lead early in the second half.
Kulus emerged as the bright spot. His previous career high was 19 points. Said Limback, “He stretched the floor for us, which then creates paint touches for other guys. He did a good job of getting downhill into the paint. I thought this was one of his better defensive games. He’s a senior. He’s been here a number of times, and he knows how to play. He was really good. I was proud of how Zac played tonight.”
The Bulldogs will dip outside of league play for the next three games on the slate. In next week’s lone outing, Concordia will be headed to Olathe, Kan., to take on MidAmerica Nazarene University (8-5) for a 6 p.m. CT tipoff on Dec. 19. The two sides met in Seward last December with the result being an 89-55 win for the Bulldogs.