CU's Adam Herman scored 22 points on Saturday to reach double figures for the 25th straight game.
Concordia Defeats OIT for First CCC Win
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Oregon Tech
PORTLAND, Ore.— Playing its best basketball of the season to date, the Concordia men's basketball team beat Oregon Tech 86-65 on Friday.
The 21-point win was the largest margin of victory Concordia has ever recorded against Oregon Tech and just the fourth time they’ve ever beaten OIT by double-digits. Concordia set the old mark for margin of victory last season when the Cavaliers upset then-No. 1 Oregon Tech 81-66 on Jan. 27, 2012.
“We’re obviously very pleased with our performance tonight,” said CU head coach Brad Barbarick. “It’s a feel good win for us because we got great contributions from a variety of people.
Concordia improved to 5-7 overall and 1-4 in the CCC with the win, while OIT dropped to 10-8 overall and 1-5 in the CCC with the loss.
Concordia owes much of its win to an incredible defensive effort against the Hustlin’ Owls as the Cavs held OIT to just 21.9 percent shooting (7-of-32) in the first half.
“We talked about their personnel during the shoot around today and I thought our guys really responded to our scouting report,” said Barbarick. “Credit goes to [assistant coach Jeff] Christianson and [assistant coach Larry] Black who came up with a great scout for us.”
The Cavalier offense, meanwhile, missed just three shots over the first 10:27 of the game as they went 11-of-14 from the floor during that stretch. That efficiency helped the Cavaliers open the game up with a 21-4 run over the middle part of the first half that turned a 14-12 game with 12:07 remaining into a 35-16 game with 5:28 remaining. The Cavaliers got 12 points each from Adam Herman, Anthony Holton and Willy Ligon in the first half as the Cavs went into the break up 44-25.
OIT threatened to get back in the game with an 8-2 run at the start of the second half that cut the Cavs’ lead to 13, but the Cavaliers responded with a 17-3 burst that pushed the lead back up to 27. Concordia led 63-36 with 12:26 left at that point and never led by fewer than 20 points the rest of the way. Overall, Concordia never trailed in the game and led by double-digits over the final 30 minutes of play.
Individually, Herman led all players with 22 points, while he also contributed seven rebounds and four assists for the Cavs. Besides Herman, Ligon was second on the team with 18 points, while Holton finished with 17 points to go along with six assists, three rebounds and a block. Outside of those three, Jesse Armstrong had a great all-around game for the Cavs as he finished with nine points, nine rebounds, two assists and two three-pointers.
As a team, Concordia shot 62.5 percent in the first half and 53.8 percent overall. Oregon Tech, meanwhile, wound up shooting 30.3 percent in the game, rebounding from a tough first half by going 13-of-34 from the floor after halftime.
Derek Evans led the Hustlin’ Owls individually as he finished with 16 points and four rebounds on Saturday. David Clarke also scored in double-figures with 14 points for OIT, while both he and Evans made three three-pointers in the game.
Next up, the Cavaliers step out of conference for a pair of games on the campus of The Master’s College campus next weekend. Concordia will open with a non-conference game against Bethesda at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 28, before playing a road game against The Master’s College at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 29. The Hustlin’ Owls, meanwhile, will be off until they host No. 12 Southern Oregon at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5.