Bulldogs Hold On to Lead Late Verses Warriors

By Madeline Peters

Staff Writer

The Concordia men’s basketball team beat the Midland University Warriors 92-87 Wednesday evening in Fremont, Neb.

The Bulldogs took the first points of the game and kept the lead throughout the half. However, Midland kept Concordia on their toes by constantly coming back and closing the lead. Regardless of Midland’s tenacity, the Bulldog men remained strong and kept their lead, ending the first half 51-38.

In the second half of the game, Concordia kept a double-digit lead over Midland, which lasted for most of the period. In the last two and a half minutes of the game, Midland cut Concordia’s 14-point lead down to five points. Concordia had several close calls in the last 30 seconds of the game. Midland missed several key shots that could have tied or lost the Bulldogs the game. In the end, Concordia was the winner of Wednesday’s game.

Junior Justin Wiersema led the team in points with 21, and also had one rebound and four assists. Junior Carter Kent scored the second-most points with 17, and had three rebounds and two assists. Junior Gage Smith and Freshman Noah Schutte each scored 15 points in Wednesday’s game. Smith and Schutte also had five rebounds and two assists each. Smith and Schutte led the team in rebounds and Wiersema led the team in assists.

Concordia and Midland also had an astounding 28 fouls in the second half of the game, including a technical foul from Midland’s head coach. Concordia made 11 of its 21 free throws for a 52.4% rate. The Bulldogs also hit nine out of 24 3-pointers for a 37.5% rate.

The men are now 19-5 overall and 12-4 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. They play again on Saturday, Feb. 5 against Dordt University at Friedrich Arena at 3:45 p.m.