Dustin Hiebert sank five three-pointers on Senior Night
Concordia Downs Evergreen State 88-76
BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. – Evergreen State erased a double-digit halftime deficit with a 14-0 run early in the second half, but Concordia University pulled away to an 88-76 Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s basketball victory Saturday night at Cavalier Gymnasium.
With the win, Concordia improved to 11-16 overall and 5-11 in conference play. Evergreen fell to 8-18 overall, 5-11 in the CCC.
Concordia limited Evergreen to 35.5 percent (11-of-31) shooting in the first half as the Cavs built a 40-29 halftime lead. CU scored the first six points of the game and led by nine at 14-5 with 13:11 remaining in the period. Evergreen responded with an 8-0 run to pull within 14-13, but the Cavs stretched the lead to 11 at 31-22 on Kevan West’s alley-oop dunk from Jourdan Sweeney 2:50 before halftime. The teams exchanged baskets in the final minutes of the half, as CU led by 11 at the break.
Michael Brumsey opened the second half with a jumper to drop the lead to single-digits, and Evergreen scored 14-straight points to take its first lead of the game at 45-42. West made a pair of free throws to pull CU within one and, after layups by Larry Green and Gage Aker, West’s jumper put the Cavs back in the lead, 48-47 with 13:36 to play.
Dustin Hiebert sank a three-pointer to stretch CU’s lead to four and Adam Herman’s jumper put the Cavs up six at 53-47. But Evergreen would not go away, scoring nine-straight points to take a three-point lead at 56-53. Sweeney’s layup pulled CU within one, and Hiebert hit back-to-back three-pointers to put CU back in the lead for good.
Evergreen pulled as close as three back at 66-63 with 5:33 to play, but CU used a 14-6 run to pull away. Sweeney and Herman combined for a perfect 13-for-13 mark from the free throw line in the final 4:19 to help seal the deal for Concordia in the 88-76 win.
The final home game of the 2010-11 season saw seniors Hiebert and Daniel Scheetz honored before the game. Both players started in the contest, with Scheetz contributing a block in nine minutes played.
“I was really pleased with Daniel Scheetz providing a good defensive spark from the get-go,” CU head coach Brad Barbarick said.
Hiebert connected on 5-of-6 shots from beyond the arc to tally 15 points for CU to add to his school-mark of made three-pointers.
“Dustin hit some really big, timely baskets in the second half when we were not getting it done on the defensive end,” Barbarick said. “He hit some big shots to put us back in control and I was pleased to see the senior step up and do that.”
Sweeney led all players with 28 points and 11 rebounds. Herman tallied 17 points and nine boards, and Kevan West scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting with seven rebounds and four assists.
Josh Troyer’s 20 points led a group of five Geoducks who reached double-figures. Mikey Hope finished with 14, Johnny Sarysz and Larry Green each tallied 11 and Marice Tolliver added 10 for Evergreen.
Concordia returns to action Feb. 18, when the Cavs visit Oregon Tech in a CCC game scheduled for 7:30 p.m.