Men’s Basketball Falls at Midland
by Garrett Suchanek
The Concordia men’s basketball team couldn’t complete the comeback after trailing by 25 points against Midland University on Wednesday night as the Warriors defeated the Bulldogs 78-75.
The Bulldogs (10-6, 4-6) got off to a quick start with a 9-2 run, but the lead quickly faded. The Warriors responded with a 16-3 run over the next eight minutes to take an 18-12 lead midway through the first half.
Two minutes later, the Warriors started another run. This time Midland went on a 21-9 run to blow the game open and give the Warriors their largest lead of the game at 44-25. Concordia went into halftime trailing 46-29.
In the second half, Midland extended its lead to as many as 25 points. However, Concordia continued to battle and made it a game again.
After trailing 55-32, the Bulldogs went on a 20-4 run to make it a seven point game with 9:51 left. Concordia continued its momentum as it trimmed the Warrior lead to one with 2:30 left.
However, with under a minute left, Midland’s Jesse Jones buried a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to give the Warriors a five-point lead. Concordia cut the deficit to two with 3.3 seconds left, but Jones made a one-of-two free throws to push the lead back to three and Midland held on for a 78-75 win.
Concordia was led by junior Chandler Folkerts, who finished the night with his 14th career double-double posting 24 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Eli Ziegler, the only other Bulldog in double figures, finished with 19 points.
The Bulldogs will look to regain their winning ways when they travel to Orange City, Iowa, to take on Northwestern College at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 9.
