The #1 Concordia Eagles mounted a second half surge on Saturday, November 24, inside Vanguard's gym in Costa Mesa, CA, as they defeated Warner Pacific (OR), 84-78, in the VU Thanksgiving Tourney.

The Eagles outscored WP 50-37 in the second stanza to erase a seven-point halftime deficit.  Tim Harris and Dakota Downs each scored 19 for Concordia.  Peter Smith added 18, going three-of-four from deep.  Brandon Hucks had nine points on four-of-six shooting.  The Eagles forced 25 turnovers, only giving away 16. 

Concordia trailed the entire first half, with the largest WP lead getting to 30-17 at 7:43.  Concordia pulled within two at 1:03 on two free throws from Downs.  WP scored the final five points to go up 41-34 at the break.

Five minutes into the second half the Eagles had the lead, 47-46, on a jumper from Smith.  Two minutes later they went up eight on a put-back layup from Downs.  A put-back layup from Harris put CU up 62-53 with 10:45 left.  Warner came back to take the lead 70-69 at the 4:17 mark.  Concordia scored seven straight in response, capped by a Harris steal and layup to go up 76-70.  Concordia iced it from the line from there to win 84-78.

"Warner Pacific is a really good, well-coached, physical team," Concordia head coach Ken Ammann said.  "Their zone gave us problems early.  We overcame a lot of adversity and starting getting stops on defense.  We came out well in the second half, and responded positively when they took the lead.  That was a great win for us."

Concordia outscored Warner 24-18 in the paint, 24-6 off turnovers, and 13-7 in second chance points.  WP's bench won 17-10.  Both teams were equal from the field.  CU shot 48% with WP at 47%.  Concordia was outrebounded 39-32.

Concordia improved to 4-2 in their preseason schedule.  Warner fell to 6-2.  The Eagles are back in Las Vegas for their Invitational Tournament on Friday, November 30 at 6 pm against Bethesda, who they beat 92-63 at home earlier this month.