Concordia's Dustin Hiebert scored 15 points off five three-point makes on Thursday night against George Fox.
Second-Half Shooting Woes Doom Cavaliers in George Fox Rematch
PORTLAND, Ore.—Connecting on just six field goals in the second half, the Concordia men’s basketball team fell to George Fox 72-62 on Thursday night.
The Cavaliers had previously defeated the George Fox 72-58 on Nov. 22 in Newberg, Ore. With the loss, Concordia dropped to 5-5 on the season while the Bruins improved to 3-4 on the year.
With Dustin Hiebert connecting on 5-of-7 attempts from beyond the three-point line in the first half, the Cavaliers generated a nine-point lead through the first eight minutes of the game, but a 10-1 run capped by a back-to-back jumpers by Joe Ahn tied the contest at 26-26 at the 8:22 mark.
The score would tie on two more occasions in the first half before the Gage Aker scored consecutive buckets, the second spurred by a Jason Yecny block, to give the home team a four-point swing. The Bruins would respond to cut it to a single point on a pair of free throws by Evan Atwater with just over a minute left to play before the break.
A Hiebert launch from long range would put the Cavaliers up by four again with 35 seconds left to play in the period but Atwater would return the next time down the court with a three of his own to cut CU’s advantage to 43-42.
In the second half neither team would mount more than a four-point lead until George Fox junior Travis Toedtmeier connected on a three pointer with three minutes to play to hand the Bruins a five-point spread with the score 64-59. George Fox would hit their next three attempts from the field and add a pair of free throws down the stretch for the 10-point win.
Concordia converted just 6-of-23 attempts from the floor in the second half, limiting themselves to just 19 points over the final 20 minutes.
Concordia’s Alex Tiefenthaler led the court with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Atwater collected 17 points for a team high while Ahn and Alex Stockner each posted 12 points for the Bruins.
Concordia returns to action on Tuesday, Dec. 16 when it hosts Pacific University at 7:30 p.m.