FOREST CITY, Iowa – The collegiate career of All-American Noah Schutte reached another level of accomplishment on Saturday (Dec. 14) in Forest City, Iowa. Schutte became the third player in Concordia University, Nebraska Men’s Basketball history to reach the 2,000-point plateau as the Bulldogs rolled past Waldorf, 103-79, for a third-straight GPAC win. The Warriors had no answer for Tristan Smith, who poured in a career-high 35 points while leading his season to a season high point total.
Head Coach Ben Limback’s squad hit the century mark in both of this week’s GPAC outings while improving to 4-3 in league play (7-3 overall). This outing marked Concordia’s first road win in three tries this season.
“After a little bit of a slow start, I thought we settled in offensively,” Limback said. “They made some shots in the first half, but fortunately we were able to turn them over. We had a lot more shots than they did. When you get that many more possessions, that’s a huge key. Tristan was unbelievable at both ends. He was rebounding, running the floor and finishing at the rim. When he balances the ability to explode and blow by people with the discipline with two feet and playing under control, he’s a difficult guy to stop.”
The milestone bucket for Schutte occurred at the 11:19 mark of the second half when he scored in the paint on a short turnaround jumper. With the game well in hand, Schutte exited the floor at the next dead ball and was met with hugs by his teammates. Schutte joins a Concordia 2,000-point club that includes just two other players: Jon Ziegler (2,099) and Tom Raabe (2,016). The Laurel, Neb., native Schutte made all five of his field goal attempts on a Saturday that saw the Bulldogs shoot a smoldering 60 percent (39-for-65) from the floor.
Schutte (10 points, five rebounds and four assists) was one of four Concordia players to register in double figures in the scoring column in the blowout victory. Smith racked up 22 of his 35 points in the first half and added eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and a blocked shot to the stat sheet. Smith made 13-of-19 attempts from the floor (3-for-4 from beyond the arc). With Smith proving unstoppable on the offensive end, Concordia opened the second half on a 29-8 run and ballooned the lead to 32 (78-46).
Three days after tallying a career-high 21 points, Bulldog sophomore guard Brooks Kissinger followed that performance up with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists at Waldorf. In another strong showing off the bench, Lukas Helms made all four of his shots from the field and notched 12 points. Brad Bennett also supplied eight points. Twelve Concordia players netted at least one basket on the day.
Schutte will surely go down as one of the top players in program history by the time he closes out his fifth and final season as a Bulldog. Said Limback, “It’s incredible. Some of us would love to score 1,000 points. He’s an incredibly gifted scorer – at the rim, from three, mid-range and getting to the line. He has a knack for scoring and always has. It’s fun to see these milestones, but he’s all about the win.”
Waldorf (3-10, 2-5 GPAC) is in its first go-round through the GPAC as the league’s newest member. The Warriors shot 55.8 percent (29-for-52) from the floor on Saturday and placed five players in double figures, led by 13 apiece from Nick Graves and Gene Noble. Their stellar shooting was negated by 22 turnovers and a 36-18 rebound disadvantage. Waldorf grabbed only one offensive rebound.
In the middle of this coming week, the Bulldogs will set out for the Phoenix area for a pre-Christmas trip. Concordia is slated to play at No. 4 Arizona Christian University on Dec. 20 before taking on Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Ariz.) on Dec. 21. The final three games of the calendar year 2024 will each be against nonconference opponents.