Adam Herman led all scorers with 30 points against Portland State on Friday.
Herman Nearly Leads Cavs to Upset at NCAA DI Portland State
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Portland State
PORTLAND, Ore.—With junior forward Adam Herman finishing with a game-high 30 points on 11-of-14 shooting, the Concordia men’s basketball team put a legitimate scare into NCAA DI Portland State, barely losing 96-93 in an exhibition on Friday.
The Cavs held a late lead against the Vikings as a three-pointer from Jesse Armstrong gave Concordia a 93-91 lead with 2:05 left in the game.
Armstrong’s three-pointer capped an 11-5 Cavalier run after the Vikings had taken an 86-82 lead with 5:06 remaining. Kory Kirwan scored six of the Cavs’ 11 points in the run, part of his 10-point performance on Friday.
The Cavs then stopped the Vikings on the possession after Armstrong’s three-pointer, but Herman got called for a foul on the rebound, sending the Vikings’ Aaron Moore to the free-throw line.
Moore missed the front end of the one-and-one, but the Cavs were called for another foul on the rebound. That sent the Vikings’ Lateef McMullan to the line, who missed the first of two shots before making the second to cut the Cavs’ lead to one at 93-92 with 1:33 remaining.
The teams then traded turnovers on ensuing possessions before another Cavs’ turnover sent the ball back to the Vikings with 55 seconds remaining. Now with a second chance to take the lead, the Vikings’ Renaldo Parker took advantage, hitting a jumper with 27 seconds left that put the Vikings up 94-93.
Concordia had a chance to take the lead back, but a jumper from Kirwan rimmed out with 14 seconds left. Herman grabbed the offensive rebound off of the shot, but the Vikings’ Dre Winston stole the ball from him and then raced down the court for a layup that put the Vikings up 96-93 with three seconds left.
The Cavs’ Anthony Holton tried a desperation three-pointer after that, but it missed, leaving the Cavs with the tough, but encouraging loss.
"It was a game where we were very pleased with our effort, but disappointed not to get the result in the end," said CU head coach Brad Barbarick. "Still, it's been encouraging to see the team's improvement from playing last Saturday against the University of Portland, to Monday against the University of Oregon and then tonight against Portland State."
Herman had his best game of the Cavs' three exhibition games so far, as he led the Cavs in nearly all facets of the game on Friday, recording game-highs in points (30) and rebounds (18, eight offensive), while also dishing out six assists. Herman had never had more than three assists in a game in his career before Friday, but doubled that previous-best agains the Vikings.
"Adam was an absolute monster tonight, but we got contributions from a lot of people tonight as well," said Barbarick. "Willy Ligon came up big with 25 points, while Justyn Searle had great play at the five-spot for us. Kory Kirwan also came in and really gave us some good contributions late."
Searle led all players with four blocks in the game on Friday, while Armstrong finished with 10 points in 40 minutes of action for the Cavs.
Searle and Ligon joined Herman for the first three baskets of the game as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 6-0 lead against the team picked to finish fifth in the big Sky Conference. The lead would be the Cavs’ largest of the night, but the team would continue to hang on to the lead through the first 14 minutes of play.
The Vikings gained their first lead at 30-28 with 5:25 left, but the Cavs’ Kyle Atkinson tied the game again at 37-37 with just under three minutes remaining.
Portland State’s Brandon Cataldo earned the final bucket of the half to give the Vikings a 44-39 lead at the break.
A Herman jumper cut the deficit to four at 57-53 near the start of the second, but the Vikings unleashed a 6-0 run after that to take the game’s first double-digit advantage.
Not deterred, Concordia quickly regained the lead behind a trio of three-pointers from Ligon with 11:05 remaining. The Cavs’ hot shooting then continued as Ligon and Herman eventually gave the Cavs a 79-75 with 7:50 remaining.
However, the Vikings came back with an 11-3 run over the next 2:44 to take the lead at 86-82 heading into the waning moments of the game.
Overall, Cocnordia shot a blistering 56.9 percent in the contest, including a 62.5 percent second half. The Cavs also made of their 18 three-point attempts in the game and shot 11-of-15 from the foul line.
Portland State, meanwhile, shot just 47.2 percent for the game, but made 23-of-27 free-throw attempts, giving them a 12-point advantage over the Cavs from the charity stripe.
Concordia, an NAIA DII program picked to finish eighth in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, is in the middle of playing four exhibition matches against NCAA DI schools. The Cavaliers fell to the University of Portland 87-69 and the University of Oregon 102-75. The Cavs will play their exhibition finale at Eastern Washington on Nov. 4 before opening the season at home against Multnomah University on Nov. 7.
"Our goal with these exhibition games was to get good tests early and we’re really excited to have a final test against Eastern Washington coming up on Sunday," said Barbarick.