YANKTON, S.D. – While playing shorthanded, the Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Basketball team put together a dominant second half and motored away from Mount Marty in the 2024-25 regular season finale. Five Bulldogs tallied at least 13 points in what amounted to an 88-74 road victory in Yankton, S.D., on Saturday (Feb. 22). Concordia shot an otherworldly 81.8 percent from the field in the second half and locked up the No. 2 seed in the upcoming GPAC tournament.
Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad moved to 23-5 overall (16-4 GPAC) and broke a program record for number of conference wins in a single season. It achieved that feat after opening league play at 1-3.
“First half, they really came out firing and made some threes,” Limback said. “I thought defensively we were solid, except for the rebounding. Second half, unbelievable shooting percentage. A lot of it was our unselfishness. Tristan Smith was getting triple-teamed in the paint. I love the way our shooters were ready to shoot. Zac Kulus was perfect from the field and Brad Bennett in the first half and Jaxon Stueve throughout (made shots). There were a lot of fun moments in the second half.”
The Bulldogs have won 16 of their last 17 games and have done it while missing several key pieces here and there, such as Hayden Frank and Lukas Helms, and now Noah Schutte for both games this week. To compound its problems, Concordia started slow on Saturday, falling behind 16-8. Those early struggles were easily forgotten when the Bulldogs mounted a 22-4 run that turned a 62-59 nail-biter into a commanding 84-63 advantage. Frank returned to the floor to ignite that spurt with a trey that was assisted by Smith, who contributed six points and three assists during the aforementioned run.
Concordia nailed 18-of-22 second half shots in another impressive display of firepower. The offense worked through Smith, who nearly recorded a triple-double (13 points, nine rebounds and nine assists). Bennett drilled five treys in the first half and ended up with a team-high 17 points. Other double figure scorers were Kulus (16), Brooks Kissinger (15) and Stueve (15). Kulus went a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor (4-for-4 from 3-point range) and added three assists and three steals to his stat line.
Mount Marty (10-16, 7-13 GPAC) made the Bulldogs work much harder to secure a win as compared to the 89-62 result in Seward on Jan. 15. The Lancers shot 50 percent (17-for-34) in the first half on Saturday before cooling to 31.3 percent (10-for-32) in the second half. Mount Marty got a team-high 17 points and 10 rebounds from Sutton Arend and outrebounded Concordia, 30-26. However, the Lancers were unable to slow down a Bulldog team that shot 70.2 percent (33-for-47) overall and made 13-of-19 attempts from 3-point range.
Program all-time leading scorer Noah Schutte was a late scratch from Wednesday’s win over Doane after enduring an injury during warmups. In his place, Kissinger has made back-to-back starts. The Bulldogs are hoping to move closer to full strength as postseason play gets underway.
Said Limback, “The story of this team is having guys ready to play like that. To see Zac have the confidence to go in and give us a spark and maintain that is a real key. I thought he gave great defensive effort too. Tristan played through those doubles and triples, which can be frustrating, and played the second half without fouling. It’s a great team win, especially when you’re down Noah Schutte. That’s something that I’m proud of our team for – rising up through adversity.”
Postseason play is up next. In the GPAC quarterfinals on Wednesday, the second-seeded Bulldogs will welcome Midland (12-16, 7-13 GPAC) to Seward for a 7 p.m. CT tipoff. Concordia won the two regular season meetings, 89-78 in Seward and 98-73 in Fremont.