SEWARD, Neb. – The focus on recruiting size and length this past offseason is already paying off for the Concordia University men’s basketball team. Just two games into the 2018-19 season, the Bulldogs have already claimed a signature nonconference victory. In the final contest of the opening day at the 19th annual Cattle Classic on Friday evening (Nov. 2), Concordia upset 2018 national tournament qualifier and 25th-ranked St. Thomas University (Fla.), 79-60.
This was an early season confidence builder for head coach Ben Limback’s squad. The Bulldogs are 2-0 having also beaten Kansas Wesleyan University four days earlier.
“I’m speechless tonight. There’s been a lot of work put in with these guys,” Limback said. “We know we have a long ways to go. There’s stuff we have to continue to improve on. Just to know that the guys have bought in and are working hard towards a common goal is huge. I hope that continues.”
Concordia found itself down 10 with less than six minutes remaining in the second half. It was stunningly dominant the rest of the way. The Bulldogs put the clamps on their opponent for the second outing in a row. The treys that were dropping early for the Bobcats (0-1) weren’t there in the second half. Spurred by Tanner Shuck, Concordia went to the locker room on a 17-4 run. During which, Shuck went for three the old-fashioned way and then went to the perimeter and drained a three.
The production from veterans like Shuck and Brevin Sloup was needed, but so too was the size inside of transfers Zach Auguste and Chuol Biel. In terms of sheer size, St. Thomas is one of the most physically imposing teams the Bulldogs will see all season. Auguste went toe-to-toe with them by notching 16 points and nine rebounds while Biel (six points, five rebounds) looks to be the team’s top low-post defender. Together they helped the home team win the rebound category, 38-33.
“I had a lot of help,” Auguste said. “Our guards put a lot of pressure on the ball so that it was hard to get the post feed in. That helped tremendously.”
The Bobcats shot just 29.4 percent in the second half (32.8 percent from the game) while having fits with a Concordia team that went deeper off the bench on this night. Just to kick the Bobcats when they were down, Sloup threw in some deep triples and Shuck powered in a posterization of a slam that even he didn’t know he had in the arsenal.
Shuck and Sloup equaled a game high with 19 points apiece. Crete native Carter Kent added 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists. On the other side, Justin Brown led the way with 18 points (5-for-7 3-point shooting). Brown was hot early on when St. Thomas built a first-half advantage.
Now Concordia has to build upon this victory. Though early in the year, GPAC play is just around the corner. Said Limback, “We outplayed them in a lot of stretches. I thought that consistent effort and just sticking together as a team was the biggest difference.”
Friday’s victory marked the program’s first over a team that was ranked at the time of tipoff since the Bulldogs topped then seventh-ranked Dakota Wesleyan in overtime, 109-106, in a classic affair back in February 2017.
Concordia will close the Cattle Classic on Saturday by hosting Barclay College (Kan.) at 5 p.m. CT. The Bears were routed by Hastings, 118-72, in a Friday afternoon tilt inside Walz Arena. Barclay is a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association.