(RV) Bulldogs suffer loss from No. 12 Chargers despite Folkert's second half burst

By on Jan. 2, 2016 in Men's Basketball

SEWARD, Neb. – The (RV) Concordia men’s basketball team, coming off two wins in California, battled it out with the No. 12 Briar Cliff Chargers in Walz Arena on Saturday afternoon. Despite 21 points from Chandler Folkerts in the second half, the Bulldogs were handed a 90-82 loss.

CUNE is now 10-5 overall and 4-5 in GPAC play this year while BCU improves to 15-2, 6-1 GPAC.

Head coach Ben Limback said, “The first half we turned it over too much and allowed them to get to the free throw line too often and that kind of set the tone. We had some guys in foul trouble right away.”

As a team, the ‘Dogs shot .249 (30-70) from the field compared to the Chargers’ .474 (27-57) percentage. Behind the arc, Briar Cliff again outshot Concordia, 36.4 percent to 31.0 percent. At the free throw stripe, the Bulldogs shot 81.3 percent while BCU reached an 84.8 percentage.

In the rebounding category, the Bulldogs edged the Chargers 43-32 while the latter held the advantage in steals, 10-7.

Leading scorer, Folkerts recorded his fourth double-double of the season, racking up 21 points and 15 rebounds. The junior also added three assists and three blocks to his line.

“Chandler had a good second half,” Limback noted. “We missed a couple bunnies inside but I liked his effort.”

Also scoring in the double digits for the Bulldogs was Robby Thomas (14) who tacked on seven rebounds, six assists and one block. Thomas is now averaging 14.2 points per contest and needs just 33 more to crack the 1,000 point milestone.

Senior Jamie Pearson put up 12 points, three rebounds and three assists on the night. 

Facing its largest deficit late in the first half, Concordia fought back from a 40-25 setback to bring Briar Cliff’s lead down to nine. The Bulldogs went on a 9-4 run to end the half, with four of those points coming off of Charger turnovers.

“In the second half I thought we defended them a little bit better but still they got to the rim on penetration. We really have to be able to score and shoot well…with a good team like this you have to shoot better and not make mistakes,” said Limback.

The Bulldogs came out of the break riding the momentum from the end of the previous half. Within five minutes, Folkerts tied the game at 51. The contest went into a back and forth battle with CUNE taking the lead eight times and tying it up three more times. With the score tied with just under nine minutes to play, the Chargers fought back to ensure an eight point win.

Limback said, “In order to win these games you have to make those little plays down the stretch and we just didn’t do it tonight. We’ll get back after it this week.”

The (RV) Concordia men’s basketball team will return to the court on Wednesday, Jan. 6. The Bulldogs will travel to Midland University for an 8 p.m. tipoff.