Men’s basketball suffers second season loss away against Dordt Defenders, 102-87
Sophomore forward Lukas Helms (2) maneuvers the ball around an opponent, going for the shot (photo from previous game)
Photo credit: Maddy Peters
By Maddy Peters
Sports Editor
The No. 9 Concordia men’s basketball team suffered their second loss in Sioux Center against the Dordt University Defenders, going 102-87.
Dordt was able to sweep the Bulldogs in basketball play Saturday afternoon with the men’s team living up to their mascot’s name.
Concordia took the lead early in the first half going up 7-0 against the Defenders. Dordt responded with a 16-0 run and a lead that was unrelinquished from that point on. The Bulldogs would at best get within one of the lead but the Defenders swiftly widened the lead and ended the first half 56-41. Dordt shot 20-32 on field goals and was 10-16 on threes leading to a 63 percent success rate in both stats. Concordia was 15-33 in field goals and 6-15 in threes.
Dordt maintained a double-digit lead for the entirety of the second half and led by as much as 19. The team fared better with their field goals going 17-32 for a 53 percent rate but only hit two three-pointers. The teams actually scored 46 points apiece in the half, but the lead Dordt built up in the first cushioned their offense.
Coach Ben Limback cited defense as a key issue for the team to work on in the coming weeks.
“They’re too good of a team to dig a hole on,” said Limback in an interview with Director of Athletic Communications Jake Knabel. “A lot of credit goes to them. They outran us in transition and made a lot of shots in the first half. We gave them a lot of open looks. We have to be better and have better attention to detail. I have to be better. Defensively, we have to figure things out and execute better. Right now, we’re not trusting each other on that end. That’s a lot of our discussion right now.”
A similar concern arose in the win over Bethel College where the team nearly gave up a nine-point lead in the first half. It certainly was an issue in the 95-88 loss against Morningside on Nov. 16.
Senior Tristan Smith led the Bulldogs in points by a long shot with a 33-point game—his second in a row. Smith also surpassed 1,000 career points and is the 36th Concordia player to reach this milestone. Tristan joins his older brother Gage in the quadruple digit club. Smith also hit a double-double for the second game in a row with 11 rebounds.
Seniors Noah Schutte and Bradley Bennett were the next top scorers with 12 apiece. Sophomore Jaxon Stueve was the last Bulldog in double digits with 10 points. Bennett and Smith were the team leaders in assists with three apiece.
The team is now 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. The team has a Thanksgiving break game against Midland University on Nov. 26 in Seward at 7:45 p.m.
