By Sam Firminhac, Athletic Communications
VIDEO: Tristan Smith throws it down with authority as part of 12-0 run
HASTINGS, Neb. – The Concordia Bulldogs Men’s Basketball team stayed hot on Saturday (Dec. 11), defeating Hastings for its second GPAC road win of the season. After trailing by five at the half, the Bulldogs offense caught fire as they rallied and pulled away, winning by a final score of 81-66. Over the final 20 minutes, Concordia shot 56.7 percent from the field and made 6-of-15 tries from beyond the arc. This marks the 12th-straight series win over the Broncos.
Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad moves to 11-2 overall in what is the best 13-game start to a season during Limback’s tenure. This was the Bulldogs’ final conference game of the calendar year. They are currently 6-2 in GPAC play.
Concordia's scoring was led by none other than Carter Kent, who put up 25 points, snagged six rebounds, and added four assists in the contest. Kent, who is coming off earning the GPAC Sports Player of the Week award, has been lights out as of late. In his past four games, he is averaging 24 points. In addition, Noah Schutte tossed in 18 points and had six rebounds. Justin Wiersema was also instrumental in the win, coming just two rebounds shy of a double-double. He had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Concordia was dominant in every way inside, both outrebounding (47-36) and scoring 24 more points inside the paint than the Broncos.
In the second half, as the Bulldogs heated up, Hastings cooled down. The Broncos managed to shoot only 29.4 percent from the field in the second half (36.2 percent for the game). They were led by Karson Gansebom who had 26 points and five rebounds. Gansebom did the majority of his offensive damage in the game’s first 10 minutes. Dashawn Walker was also in double figures with 12 points and seven rebounds. TJ Babikir came off the bench to add 10 points for the Broncos. Hastings falls to 6-7 overall (1-5 GPAC) with the loss.
The key stretch came after Gansebom had tied the game (53-53) with a trey at the 14:29 mark. The Bulldogs responded with a 12-0 surge spurred by seven points from Kent. Included in the run was an authoritative one-handed slam by Tristan Smith in transition. Following the run, Concordia maintained a lead of at least eight points for the remainder of the contest.
Concordia can now look forward to warmer weather as they will be traveling to Daytona Beach, Fla., to play its holiday tournament. Coach Limback is excited to not only enjoy the weather but also to see some good competition as they step away from conference play.
“We’ll enjoy some sunny weather and some really good basketball teams that we play out there like William Jessup and Rochester,” Limback said. “It's fun you get to go somewhere nice, play outside your league against some good teams, and certainly we'll enjoy that. It should be some good basketball.”
During the stay in Daytona Beach, the Bulldogs will play 23rd-ranked William Jessup University (Calif.) on Dec. 19 and then Rochester University (Mich.) on Dec. 21.