SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Despite draining 13 treys, the Concordia University men’s basketball team suffered a second-straight defeat in Sioux City, Iowa, to a highly-ranked opponent. The Bulldogs hung tight for a half, but they were unable to contain Morningside’s Tyler Borchers in an 86-68 loss on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 10).
The 10th-ranked Mustangs (21-6, 13-4 GPAC) kept pace with Briar Cliff (13-4 GPAC) atop the league standings. Meanwhile, head coach Ben Limback’s squad is still attempting to end its slide. Concordia dropped to 16-11 overall and to 7-9 in conference play.
“We were living and dying by the three and just couldn’t get anything inside. That was a big key,” Limback said. “That first half we shot really well but didn’t score a lot in the paint. In the second half they went on a run where we didn’t do a good job in transition.
“I thought we played much harder (than in Wednesday’s loss at Briar Cliff), especially in the first half. We can’t take our foot off the gas. We have to continue to fight. We weren’t physical enough. It really showed on the free throw line.”
Three different Bulldogs canned a triple as part of a 14-5 run to open up the game. It was downhill from there. From the 9:46 mark of the first half and on, Morningside possessed the lead. The Mustang advantage steadied in double figures for the final 7:26 of game time. Borchers was too much inside. He piled up 27 points and 12 rebounds. In the backcourt, Brody Egger (22 points) enjoyed a nice night.
The difference in the lane was glaring. Morningside finished with a 40-18 edge in points in the paint and outrebounded Concordia, 35-30. Not only that, the Bulldogs shot only four free throws (3-for-4) and were minus-nine in turnovers (15-6). It didn’t help that the team’s top offensive threat on Saturday, Cordell Gillingham, was limited in the second half due to foul trouble. He wound up fouling out with 4:04 left in the game.
Gillingham lit it up in the first half when he made all five shot attempts – four from beyond the arc – while piling up all 14 of his team high points. Four of his teammates put up 10 or more points: Jake Hornick (13 points, five assists), Brevin Sloup (13), Tanner Shuck (11 points, five rebounds) and Clay Reimers (10 points, six rebounds). The Bulldogs shot 46.4 percent as a team.
Tyler Borchers, Egger and Matthew Hahn (14 points) combined for 63 points as a prolific trio. The Mustangs made 61.5 percent of their shots taken inside the arc. Their overall percentage stood at 52.5 (32-for-61). Morningside went 14-for-21 (.667) from the foul line.
The Bulldogs will close out the 2017-18 regular season next week with a pair of home contests. Doane (13-15, 7-9 GPAC) will make its way to Seward on Wednesday (Feb. 14) for an 8 p.m. CT tipoff. Back on Jan. 3, Concordia escaped Crete with a 79-77 overtime win with the help of a game-winning buzzer beater delivered by Gillingham.