SEWARD, Neb. – In a conference opening shootout between two of the best in the GPAC, visiting Morningside blistered the nets in the second half and emerged from Friedrich Arena with a 95-88 win over the ninth-ranked Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Basketball team on Saturday (Nov. 16). The Mustangs went a scintillating 18-or-23 from the floor in the second half while erasing what was a nine-point halftime lead for the Bulldogs. Tristan Smith produced a career-high 34 points for Concordia.
Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad endured its first defeat of the 2024-25 season and stands at 3-1 overall. The defensive performance in the second half wasn’t good enough to get the job done on this particular day.
“I felt like we came out flat to start the second half and let them back in in a matter of two minutes,” Limback said. “They were on a roll to start the second half and defensively we were on our heels. They were feeding off it. They shot 78 percent in the second half, which you’re not going to win many games on the other side of that. We just weren’t good enough to be able to outscore them.”
Even a career best outing from Smith couldn’t save the Bulldogs. The Elizabeth, Colo., native had already totaled 20 points and 10 rebounds by halftime before finishing with 34 and 13. The 47-39 lead Concordia enjoyed at the break was gone just over four minutes into the second half. It was a nail-biter the rest of the way. One of the more significant shots of the game was delivered by Morningside’s Aidan Vanderloo when he answered a triple from Brad Bennett. Vanderloo’s trey pushed the Mustang lead back to five (86-81) with 3:14 remaining.
Over the final three minutes, the Bulldogs mustered only one made field goal and watched Morningside salt away the win from the foul line (23-for-29 for the game). The Mustangs (5-0, 1-0 GPAC) shot 57.1 percent (32-for-56) overall and got 20-plus points from three players: Joey Skoff (26), Vanderloo (21) and Daniel Brocaille (20). Skoff entered the day ranked second nationally in scoring average. Skoff has Morningside (2024 NAIA national quarterfinalist) unbeaten with two top 25 wins already this season.
Smith made 14-of-16 shots from the floor in 35 minutes of play. Noah Schutte (14), Hayden Frank (12) and Lukas Helms (11) also reached double figures in scoring. Elijah Gaeth added seven points off the bench. Concordia shot 49.3 percent (34-for-69) from the floor but struggled from 3-point range (6-for-27) and from the foul line (14-for-23).
Said Limback, “We’re going to have to adjust but it was definitely the pace that we want it at. Mentally, we had some miscues. We fouled in the last two or three minutes – and they have a really good free throw shooting team and good guard play. We weren’t sharp at times, especially down the stretch. It gives us a lot to look at and a lot to improve on. It’s a long season – that was the message.”
Next on the schedule will be a trip to Dordt (6-0, 0-0 GPAC) for a 3:45 p.m. CT tipoff on Nov. 23. The Defenders received votes in the latest NAIA coaches’ poll. Concordia won two of three meetings versus Dordt last season with the home team triumphing in all three instances. The Defenders still have yet to play a GPAC game. They earned a 79-75 road win over William Woods University (Mo.) on Saturday.