CU sophomore Kory Kirwan posted his first career collegiate 'double-double' against Carroll College on Friday.
Cavs Post Near Wire-to-Wire Win in Lewiston
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Carroll
LEWISTON, Idaho—Trailing for just over a single minute early in the game, Concordia posted a 77-73 win over Carroll College in eth opening game of action at the Clearwater River Casino and Resort Invite hosted by Lewis-Clark State on Friday.
In the team’s first regular-season contest away from home, Concordia opened up a 12-point lead midway through the first and withstood a couple of late charged by the Saints to improve to 2-0 on the young season. Carroll fell to 0-2 in the year after opening its year with a 91-72 loss at Montana State-Billings.
Concordia will remain in Lewiston for a match against the tournament host Warriors from LC-State. Opening tip is set for 7:30 p.m. (MST).
Trailing 12-11 at the 14:30 mark following a layup by Nick Jones , the Cavs went on 1 13-point run to claim their first double-digit lead. Adam Herman got the streak started with a fast-break field goal with the dish from teammate Jesse Armstrong. A few moments later Willy Ligon contributed with a deep 3-pointer to go up 16-12 against the Saints.
With 11:29 remaining, Kory Kirwan sandwiched a bucket between two more Herman makes, the second a time-out inducing three pointer for the 12-point Concordia lead.
In the first of several comeback attempts, Noah Kone-Nelson and Tyson Percifield combined for seven quick points to cut the gap to five points with the score 24-19 at 8:09.
Over the next three minutes, Justyn Searle returned with four of his six points on the night to push the Cavs back to a 10-point lead at 30-20,
Down 10 again on a Ligon jumper with 1:48 left, the Saints scored six of the final eight points to enter the break down 40-34.
Moments into the second half, Kone-Nelson returned the Saints to within three with the score 44-41, but the Cavaliers once again generated separation with Kory Kirwan chipping with eight of his 13 points in the second half.
With an assist from Terani Richmond, Ligon gave the Cavs its largest lead of the night with a 68-54 spread at the six-minute mark, only to see the Saints scratch back to within three on a 17-6 run which featured 3-point makes by Jones and Chris McGrath.
Needing only to run out the final 80 seconds, Jesse Armstrong buried a pair of late free throws to wrap up the contest.
Herman led the floor with 28 points and grabbed 11 boards for the double-double. In addition to the 13 points, Kirwan added 10 rebounds for career highs in both categories. Ligon ended the night with 16 points with a perfect 7 of 7 shooting performance from the charity stripe.
Overall, Concordia hit 22 of 27 attempts from the free throw line for a .815 exchange rate. The Warriors hit 13 of their 17 attempts. In addition to outshooting Carroll .456 to .417, the Cavs dominated the glass en route to a 43 to 27 advantage.