PORTLAND, Ore.—Back home after a three-game road trip, the Concordia men’s basketball broke a three-game skid with a 91-68 conference win over Evergreen State on Friday.

Concordia (9-7, 2-4 CCC) trailed only twice in the game as the Cavaliers flooded the Evergreen State basket with easy buckets off a season-high 29 assists.

Cavalier players assisted on nearly 75 percent of the team’s field goals, an astounding stat that led to the Cavs’ 62-28 advantage in points in the paint.

“We definitely played well in spots tonight,” CU head coach Brad Barbarick said. “Our keys have been rebounds, turnovers and free throws and if we clean some of those things up we are capable of being a top-25 team. We are seeing a lot of progress and still have time to get some of those things corrected, but it was still a big win for us tonight.”

Meanwhile, Evergreen State (1-14, 0-6 CCC) used some hot three-point shooting from Travis Wagner and Mike Derosier to challenge Concordia until deep into the second half.

Wagner had the hot hand in the first half as he made three straight deep three-pointers that gave the Geoducks their only leads of the game. The last of Wagner’s three-pointers put the Geoducks up for the last time at 24-23 with 7:44 remaining.

That’s when the Cavs’ offense turned hot as the team answered Wagner’s threes with a 19-2 run over the next six minutes. True to form, the Cavs scored 12 of the 19 points in the paint with CU senior forward Jourdan Sweeney leading the attack with nine points during the run. Sweeney’s three with 1:23 left capped the run with Concordia up 42-26.

Three-point shooting saved the Geoducks again in the second half, though, after Concordia jumped out to a 58-37 lead early in the period. Derosier provided the spark this time, making another three three-pointers in a row that cut the CU lead to 60-48 and forced a timeout out of coach Barbarick.

Evergreen State then cut the lead to 11 following the timeout, but Concordia asserted itself once again with a 14-0 run of its own.

Adam Herman started the run for the Cavs this time, sinking a layup in the paint off an assist from Kevan West. West played particularly well during the stretch for Concordia, recording two points, two assists, two rebounds, a block and a steal. West’s follow of his own miss on a free throw attempt finished the run with Concordia up 76-51 with 10:09 remaining.

After that, Concordia’s lead only dropped below 20 points once as the team improved to 7-1 at home this season.

On Friday, Concordia outshot Evergreen State .520-to-.368 from the field. The Cavaliers also forced the Geoducks into several costly mistakes, converting 25 turnovers into 29 points. The Geoducks posted their own statistical victories, though, grabbing more offensive rebounds than the Cavs (17-12) and making more three-point shots (9-5).

Individually, both teams had four players score in double figures. Herman led Concordia with 18 points, while Sweeney, West and Anthony Holton all scored 13 points each. On the other side, Derosier led the Geoducks with 18 points, while Patrick Lewis added 17 and Les Jones and Wagner each scored 12.

In other categories, Herman recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 12 rebounds to go with his 18 points. Senior Gage Aker also recorded a game-high six assists, while West filled the stat sheet once again with eight rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks on top of his 13 points.

Next up, the CCC-leading Northwest Eagles look to challenge Concordia’s strong home record when the two play in Portland tomorrow, Jan. 7.

“Northwest is a very good team that will arrive here after their first loss of the season,” Barbarick said. “They have a young team that shoots it extremely well and doesn’t turn the ball over. We will need to stop their ability to shoot the three.”

Evergreen State, meanwhile, will also return to action tomorrow as the Geoducks travel to face Warner Pacific. Both games will start at 7:30 p.m.