VIDEO: Reaction from Head Coach Ben Limback
HASTINGS, Neb. – The year 2020 continues to treat the Concordia University men’s basketball team quite well. The Bulldogs remain scorching as confidence soars. Not even the absence of a starter slowed Concordia down, which pummeled host Hastings, 83-62, inside Lynn Farrell Arena on Wednesday (Jan. 8) evening. The Bulldogs shot 49.3 percent from the floor.
If head coach Ben Limback’s squad is to prove it belongs as an upper echelon team in the GPAC, these are the types of games that need to be locked down. Concordia’s five-game win streak has put it at 12-5 overall (5-4 GPAC).
“I'm proud of our guys,” Limback said. “It was different styles tonight. They wanted to pound the ball inside and we wanted to stretch the floor and space them out. Tanner Shuck defensively did a great job on Bart (Hiscock). He’s a great player and I felt like Tanner made him work for everything he had. There were a couple times were it was kind of stagnant but overall, it was a great effort.”
The efficiency the Bulldogs have played with offensively has been something to behold. Carter Kent may be the reigning GPAC Player of the Week, but he certainly doesn’t have to do it alone. Kent (17 points) led a group of five double-figure scorers. By the 13:15 mark of the second half, Concordia had built a 20-point advantage when Brevin Sloup whirled in a trey. Ten long balls was enough to do the trick on this night.
With Chuol Biel out of the lineup, Ryan Holt filled in and provided 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor. Meanwhile, Sloup stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Shuck put up 13 points and seven rebounds and Sam Scarpelli chipped in with 10 points off the bench. Sammy Adjei (seven points) and Gage Smith (six points, eight rebounds) also supplied productive minutes off the bench.
Hastings (9-10, 2-7 GPAC) had just snapped a six-game conference losing streak this past weekend by winning at Jamestown. The Broncos were taken out of their game by the Bulldogs. Hiscock was held to a modest, by his standards, 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting from the floor. From 3-point range, Hastings was an Applebee’s special 2-for-20. It all meant that the Broncos spent most of the night staring at a double-digit deficit.
As for Concordia, it would love to bottle this high level play up. Each of its last four victories have come by double-digit margins. That four-game skid back in December now feels like a distant memory.
Said Limback, “It’s next man up. I feel like this team’s really buying into what we’re trying to do and how hard you have to play.”
The Bulldogs finished with a 38-32 edge on the boards. They were also plus-four in turnover margin in a game that it exerted control of early on. Concordia’s first double-digit lead came at the 9:17 mark of the first half when Smith fluttered in a trey to make it 24-14. Hastings never got any closer than seven points the remainder of the night.
The Bulldogs will go for six in a row on Saturday when they welcome Jamestown (12-6, 3-5 GPAC) to town for a 4 p.m. CT tipoff inside Walz Arena. Concordia will attempt to avenge two losses last season to the Jimmies, who are in their second season as a member of the GPAC.