Dustin Hiebert scored eight of his 19 points in overtime to help the Cavs defeat Pacific onSaturday.
Cavaliers Defeat Boxers in Overtime Affair
FOREST GROVE, Ore.—Forced into overtime after a last-second three, Concordia stood its ground in the extra session to defeat Pacific 102-100 in non-conference men’s basketball action on Saturday night inside the Pacific Athletic Center.
With the win, Concordia improved to 10-1 on the season, matching its win total from last season (10-20). Pacific dropped to 3-3 on the year.
Concordia returns to Cascade Collegiate Conference action by facing cross-town rival Warner Pacific on Dec. 18. Opening tip against the Knights is set for 7:30 p.m. in Portland, Ore. SPU improved to 5-1 on the year.
Pacific would grab an early lead with a three-point shot by A.J. Gaulton at the 15:41 to make the score 12-5, but the Cavs would battle back with a 14-7 run, with five points coming from Drew Preuninger, to even the score at 19-19 with just over 12 minutes to play in the half.
The two teams would trade baskets for the middle portions of the period. The Boxers would regain a seven-point advantage only to see the Cavs storm back to stake a five-point advantage of their own on a Dustin Hiebert layup with 2:20 remaining. Jonathan Jury closed the half for Pacific with a layup at the buzzer to give Pacific the 50-49 edge at the break.
Concordia compiled a second surge after intermission with Jourdan Sweeney and Kevan West getting to the rim as well as to the foul line again to pump a CU lead to 73-64 with 10 minutes to play only to see Adam McElwee drain a three pointer with time expiring to send the game into overtime with the score nodded at 89-89.
Hiebert opened the overtime with a three-point make for CU’s opening strike. The Boxers immediately answered with six of the next seven points to claim a 95-94 lead with 2:34 remaining. Hiebert returned down the court with his second trey of the period and followed with a layup to put the Cavs up 98-97. A Sweeney steal led to a field goal by Gage Aker to make it a three-point spread with 1:22 left.
From there the Boxers would miss its next three attempts from the field while West drained a pair of free throws to make it a 102-98 contest with eight seconds to play. Pacific posted a last-second layup to finish with the two-point margin.
Sweeney and Hiebert tied for the team lead with 19 points each. Hiebert scored eight of the team’s 13 points in overtime. Alex Tiefenthaler had 17 for the Cavs while West finished with 16 as six players reached double figures. LeMar Anglin led Pacific with 18 points.
Pacific outrebounded the Cavs 43-36 but CU more than doubled the home team in trips to the line, converting 30 of 36 for a sparkling 83.3 percent exchange rate.