Cavs eclipse EOU for first CCC win

1/3/2014 10:19:00 PM

Concordia 93, Eastern Oregon 79?? Stats Comparison CU EOU Points 93 79 Rebounds 31 28 Assists 10 17 Fouls 17 27 Shooting % 52.8% 53.7% 3-point % 30.8% 47.8% Free Throw % 76.7% 47.6% CU Leaders CI Herman 30 Points 23 Eackles Middleton 12 Rebounds 8 Maloney Velasquez 5 Assists 6 Eackles N/A 0 Blocks 0 N/A Velasquez 4 Steals 2 3 players

PORTLAND, Ore.—With the first 10 points of the game, Concordia University posted a wire-to-wire win over visiting Eastern Oregon University in Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball action on Friday night.

With Adam Herman (Vancouver, Wash./Prairie H.S.) and Anthony Holton (Portland, Ore./Sunset H.S.) combining for eight early points and Concordia's defense holding the Mountaineers without a point for the first four minutes, the Cavaliers generated a 10-0 lead out of the gate which quickly expanded to a sizable 25-8 advantage following Davis Nuami free throw makes at the 9:19 mark.

EOU finally broke through on a 3-pointer by Tony Eackles with 15:49 left in the first and would go on to score 12 of its first 14 points via the 3-point shot as Craig Tucker and Kevin Attila adding three more long-ranged shots to keep the Mountaineers in the game.

The Cavaliers forced eight turnovers in the first half alone to head into the half with a 41-31 advantage.

In the middle stages of the second half, EOU pulled to within three on another Eackles 3-pointer to make it a 52-49 game with 12:39 remaining in regulation.

From there, Concordia put together an 11-2 run with nine points coming from Herman and Esvan Middleton (Culver City, Calif./Culver City H.S.) capping the streak with two makes from the free throw line for a 12-point advantage.

Looking to cut the gap to single digits, EOU made Concordia earn the win at the free throw line, sending the Cavs to the charity stripe on 32 occasions in the second half alone where the home team converted for 24 points on 75 percent shooting.

Overall, CU was 33 of 43 from eth line (76.7 percent) compared to just 10 of 21 (47.6 percent) for the Mountaineers.

Hitting 12 of 13 from the free throw line, Herman led all players with 30 points and moved to within 21 points of Concordia's all-time career scoring list. Herman now has 1,862 career points, second behind only the 1,883 points tallied by former Cavalier Alphonso Niles (1996-2000).

Including Herman, five CU players reached double figures in the scoring column, including Holton (17), Tyler Velasquez (Colorado Springs, Colo./Doherty H.S.) (16), Middleton (11) and Willy Ligon (Corona, Calif./Centennial H.S.) (11). Middleton pulled in a game-high 12 rebounds for his third straight 'double-double'.

Connecting on 4 of 5 from 3-point territory, Eackles led EOU with 23 points and was chased by 15 points from Tucker.

Herman will look to set the CU scoring mark tomorrow as the Cavs host College of Idaho. EOU, meanwhile, will stay in Portland to play at Warner Pacific College. Tip off for both games is set for 7:30 p.m.