Concordia's Willy Ligon matched a season high with 29 points on Friday.
Ligon Leads Cavs to Road Win
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. Bethesda
SANTA CLARITA, Calif.—Looking to battle back to .500 after a five-game skid earlier in the season, Concordia improved to 6-7 on the year with an 80-76 win in a neutral match against Bethesda University on Friday night.
Concordia turned an early 10-point deficit into a slim lead at the end of the first half and kept the lead throughout the second half en route to its third win in its last four contests.
Bethesda, which used just six players in the game, fell to 1-13 on the season. Concordia will face The Master’s College on Saturday to conclude the mini road trip. The start against the Mustangs is set for 7 p.m. inside the Bross Gym.
In the opening minute of play, Bethesda’s Justin Latham connected on a 3-pointer which would contribute to an 18-8 lead out of the gate for the Flames.
From there, the Cavaliers posted a 13-2 run to snare its first lead of the game with the score 21-20. Junior forward Adam Herman chipped in with seven points along the streak to swing the momentum towards the Cavs.
Willy Ligon would give the Cavs its largest lead of the half with the score 35-28 but the Flames, keyed by a Daniel Chavez jumper, scored the final five points to head to the locker room down two.
Chavez returned with the opening basket of the second half to tie the game for the first time since the opening tip, but the Cavs refused to hand over the lead.
Another Ligon 3-pointer pushed the CU edge to eight powers with nine minutes remaining. A Marsh layup closed the Flames to within a point at 66-65 but Robbie Jackson teamed up with Ligon for the team’s final 14 points for the hard-fought win.
“We played like we had been traveling all day,” CU head coach Brad Barbarick said. “It started out like we were running in sand, but we knew we were going to settle into it and Adam (Herman) and Willy (Ligon) stepped it up.”
Ligon led all scorers with 29 points, 21 in the second half alone, while Herman logged 26 points while adding 13 rebounds for his eighth double-double of the season. Both CU players finished with an 11 of 17 shooting line. Ligon connected on 4 of 8 from 30point range while Herman converted both long-ranged attacks.
Overall, Concordia outshot Bethesda 54 percent to 43 percent and finished with a 42-31 advantage on the boards.
Monday led Bethesda with 25 points and was followed by 20 from March and 14 from Latham.
“Bethesda played really well,” Barbarick aid. “It’s amazing what they can do with a small roster, but they really do have some quality players. We did some good things and it’s always good to get a win away from home, but we are going to need to play a lot better tomorrow. The Master’s likes to attack the basket. They will be tough to guard so we will have to play like we know are capable of.”