Men’s basketball finishes regular season with 88-74 win over Mount Marty Lancers
Freshman guard Dane Jacobsen (3) prepares to put a shot up to the basket (photo from previous game).
Photo credit: Maddy Peters
By Isaac Dawson
The Concordia Men’s Basketball team stood victorious Saturday afternoon against the Mount Marty University Lancers with a final score of 88-74 to cap off their regular season.
Concordia’s offense ramped it up throughout the game and shot well in the second half especially. They fought back and forth for the lead until getting a solid advantage in the second half with a balanced offense and defensive game.
A successful tip off for Concorda fell back into a turnover, and the scorecard followed suit. Mount Marty led for the majority of the half with a brief breath of fresh air for the Bulldogs at about the quarter mark when they were up by five. After an initial bout between three-point shooters fizzled out the game became a faster-paced battle of layups, rebounds, and turnovers that ended in a close score of 47-43.
On the offensive side the Bulldogs fell just short of the Lancers in the first half. Concordia put up 15-25 field goals and 8-12 three pointers to Mount Marty’s 17-34 and 7-15 with an extra free throw on top of the Bulldogs’ five.
The second half looked to be starting off in a similar fashion. After a few minutes it quickly became apparent that the Lancers could not pull off the same shooting game they did in the first half. Concordia went 18-22 and 5-7 with six free throws while shutting down the Lancers and keeping them at 10-32 and 5-14 with two free throws.
The Bulldogs started sinking threes and pushing good drives through to the basket. Mount Marty fell behind with a series of missed shots of all varieties alongside a reasonable amount of turnovers. Near the end they put through a few good threes, but Concordia’s layup game provided a buffer good enough to finish the match at 88-74.
Five Bulldogs scored in the double digits this time. Bradley Bennett was the leader with 17 points. Not far behind him was Zac Kulus with 16, Brooks Kissinger and Jaxon Stueve with 15 each, and Tristan Smith at 13. Smith’s lack of points in this game was more than made up for by his nine rebounds and nine assists as a response to a team that tried extra hard to shut him down.
Coach Ben Limback’s team now stands at 23-5 overall and 16-4 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. Concordia’s next match marks the beginning of the GPAC championship run with the quarterfinals game against the Midland University Warriors. The game takes place on Feb. 26 in Friedrich Arena at 7 p.m.
