A group of 12 Bulldogs from the men's basketball program have been named 2022-23 NAIA Scholar-Athletes. Seven of the award winners are repeat NAIA Scholar-Athletes, including four-time Scholar-Athlete Gage Smith.
A bid to upset the No. 2 seed in the bracket came up short on Tuesday (March 7) as the Bulldogs were clipped by Oklahoma Wesleyan, 72-70, in the first round of the national tournament. Noah Schutte paced the Bulldogs with 23 points.
Happy to have a seat at the table, the 15th-seeded Bulldogs will look to pull an upset of second-seeded Oklahoma Wesleyan in the first round of the NAIA National Championship tournament. Hartman Arena will serve as the venue.
They had to sweat it out, but the Bulldogs are in the field of 64. Concordia Men's Basketball will be a No. 15 seed at the national tournament and will play No. 2 seed Oklahoma Wesleyan in Park City, Kan., on March 7.
One of four Bulldogs honored by the GPAC on Wednesday (March 1), Noah Schutte was named to the conference's first team. He was joined with All-GPAC honors by Gage Smith, Brad Bennett and Tristan Smith.
Playing short-handed the Bulldogs gave it their best shot in the GPAC semifinals at No. 11 Jamestown on Saturday (Feb. 25). The final result was a 95-77 loss that has Concordia (18-12) hoping to earn an at-large bid to nationals.
It'll be back on the road this weekend for the fifth-seeded Bulldogs, who are hoping to reach the GPAC tournament title game for the third time in four seasons. Concordia will be tasked with playing top-seeded Jamestown.
Noah Schutte put on a dazzling display that saw him rack up 38 points and 18 rebounds while breaking a school record with nine 3-point field goals. Schutte's performance carried the Bulldogs to a 90-77 GPAC quarterfinal win at Northwestern.
Standouts on and off the court, Brad Bennett, Gage Smith and Tristan Smith have been honored appropriately. All three have been named Academic All-District® Team award winners by College Sports Communicators.
As the No. 5 seed in the GPAC tournament, the Bulldogs are readying to play at fourth-seeded Northwestern in the quarterfinals. Concordia enters the bracket as the defending GPAC tournament champion and winners of two of the past three.
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