Jourdan Sweeney scored 23 points for the Cavs on Friday, including a highlight reel dunk to cap an 18-3 run in the first half.
Strong Defense Leads Cavs to 70-41 Win over Portland Bible
STATS - Concordia vs. Portland Bible
PORTLAND, Ore.—With six quick points from Austin Dunn and Jourdan Sweeney, Concordia jumped out to an early double-digit lead en route to a 70-41 win over Portland Bible College on Friday night.
With the win, Concordia improved to 6-4 on the season. The Cavs will turn around and play at George Fox University on Saturday with an 8 p.m. start in Newberg, Ore.
On Friday, the pace of the game was in stark contrast to the earlier matchup between the two teams in which Concordia defeated Portland Bible 116-61 with six Cavs reaching double figures in the scoring column. Portland Bible often held the ball deep into the shot clock in order to slow down the Cavalier offense.
However, Concordia's defense made Portland Bible pay for that strategy, especially in the first half when Portland Bible turned the ball over four times on shot-clock violations. In addition, the win represents the Cavs' best defensive game to date this season as the team gave up its fewest points so far (41) and held Portland Bible to 26 percent from the field, tying a season low for a Cavalier opponent.
Concordia's strong defense showed itself early as the Cavs held Portland Bible without a field goal for over 10 minutes in the first half after a layup from Portland Bible's Juston Coleman cut the CU lead to 12-7 with 15:33 remaining in the period. Meanwhile, the Cavs scored 18 points over that same stretch to push their lead out to 30-10.
To top it all off, CU's Sweeney capped the run with a SportsCenter-worthy dunk over a Portland Bible defender in the lane. Besides the dunk, though, the Portland Bible defender also got called for a blocking foul and Sweeney made the ensuing free throw for a three-point play.
Then, once in the second half, Concordia used a 15-2 run at the start of the period to stretch their lead to 52-22 with 12:33 remaining in the game. After that, Concordia could just cruise, which they did to the 70-41 victory.
Overall, the Cavs outshot Portland Bible 50.9 percent-to-26 percent from the field. In addition, Concordia outrebounded their opponents 45-23, including an 18-11 advantage in offensive boards.
Sweeney led the way for the Cavs individually with a game-high 23 points off 11-of-12 shooting from the floor. Besides Sweeney, Herman nearly posted a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds, while nine other Cavs scored in the game.
On the other side, Doug Noteboom led Portland Bible with 15 points, while Coleman, who scored his team's first seven points, ended up with 11.