Men’s basketball gives powerful second-half performance, coming to a 94-71 victory over Broncos
Sophomore forward Lukas Helms (2) looks to pass the ball to an open teammate past the hands of an opponent (photo from previous game).
Photo credit: Maddy Peters
By Kai Olbrich
The No. 12 Concordia University men’s basketball team cruised to a 94-71 victory over the Hastings Broncos on Feb. 12 after a dominant second-half performance.
The first half was quite cagey with both teams having a taste of the lead at multiple points, but the Broncos could not stop the second-half barrage leveled by the Bulldog offense. Concordia put away 29 points in under 10 minutes and allowed just five in the same time.
The Bulldog lead got as high as 30 points with six minutes left in the match and finished up as a 23-point victory for Concordia.
Concordia was hot from all areas of the court shooting 56.5 percent from the field, 40.7 percent from behind the arc, and 76.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Another key to the Bulldog victory was extra possessions. Concordia outrebounded the Broncos 41-29 overall, and 9-7 offensively. Senior Noah Schutte led the team with 12 of those rebounds, all being defensive. Schutte also extended his Bulldog all-time career scoring record with an additional 10 points on the evening.
Senior Tristan Smith was second in rebounds with nine, but four of those were on offense. Smith, who leads the Great Plains Athletic Conference in field goal percentage, led the Bulldogs in scoring with 24. Junior Zac Kulus came in second with 12 points along with four assists. Freshman Elijah Gaeth dished out a team-high seven assists to go with his 11 points.
The 20-5 Bulldogs have a rematch with Dakota Wesleyan on Feb. 15. The previous meeting went 95-84 in favor of the Bulldogs who will be looking to keep in the top three of the GPAC standings. The game at Friedrich Arena will tip off at 3:45 p.m.
