Eagles News
03.21.2009 - [Men's Basketball]
KANSAS CITY, MO --- Concordia
built up an 11-point halftime lead, but the Eagles were out-scored,
46-27, in the second half, as Rocky Mountain (MT) posted a 72-64
Quarterfinals win at the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Men's Basketball National
Championships.
The Eagles are eliminated from the tournament with the loss, and end the season at 28-7, while Rocky Mountain moves on to the semifinal round to face Robert Morris (IL) Monday evening.
Although Concordia shot 46 percent (12-for-26), including 60 percent (6-for-10) in the first half, the Eagles couldn't seem to get a shot to fall in the game's final 20 minutes, as they shot 34 percent (11-for-32) and hit just one three-point shot in 10 attempts.
The Eagles shot just 52 percent (11-for-21) from the free-throw line, the second-lowest mark of the season.
"This team can hold their heads high," head coach Ken Ammann said. "They played just about as good as they possibly could have, but only one team wins the title, and that wasn't us this year. We played five great halves and one bad one (in the tournament), and so it's tough to have to end it on the bad half."
All-GSAC senior Kingsley Costain scored a game-high 26 points in the loss, while fellow All-GSAC senior Phil Friesen scored 10 points and hauled down four rebounds. Senior forward Tyler Gottstein played through what may have been a broken nose and grabbed six rebounds in his final game as an Eagle.
The Battlin' Bears were led by Devin Uskoski's NAIA-leading 27th double-double of the year, as he scored 20 points and notched 16 boards, while Chase Sukut scored 17 points--including 13 in the second half.
After trailing at 37-26 heading into the locker rooms, the Battlin' Bears caught up in a hurry, as they started the second half on a 16-4 rally to take the lead at 42-41 on a Nate Richardson layup with 12:50 to play.
Rocky Mountain's James Bulluck then hit a running layup to stretch the advantage to 44-41 eight minutes into the half, and the Battlin' Bears made it a nine-point game, at 56-47 on back-to-back treys from Sukut to put Concordia in its largest hole of the game--and, consequently, its biggest deficit of the tournament.
Sukut penetrated for a layup to increase the lead to 58-47 with 8:19 on the clock, and the Battlin' Bears gained another double-digit lead when Anthony Allen tipped in a second-chance bucket to make the score 63-53 with 3:39 remaining.
Rocky Mountain out-scored the Eagles 42-26 in the paint, and 10-2 in the second-chance category thanks to 10 offensive rebounds.
Concordia gained a shot of life with two minute to go, when Worthy forced a steal at half-court and took it himself to make it a 63-55 ballgame, and Rocky Mountain committed an offensive turnover on its next possession to set the table for another layup from Worthy that made the score 63-57.
The game continued to get interesting when the Eagles forced a turnover on the Battlin' Bears' inbound pass that followed Worthy's bucket, but Worthy--who was fouled on the play--missed both of his charity-stripe attempts to return the ball to Rocky Mountain with 1:21 showing on the game clock.
Worthy then fouled out on the next play to force Sukut to the free-throw line, where he went 1-for-2 to make the score 64-57, but Costain drove to the rim to make it a five-point game at 64-59 with 52.5 to go.
The Eagles then burned Rocky Mountain's next possession, sending DeAnthony Holmes to the stripe, where he missed on a single-bonus attempt, and Costain drained a three-pointer to bring Concordia to within two points, at 64-62 with 40.7 to play.
The comeback stalled, however, as Bulluck hit all six of his free-throws on the next three possessions to stretch the lead out to 70-62 with 11.3 seconds left.
Sukut then sealed the victory with a pair of good free-throws to match a Costain three-pointer and make the final score 72-64.
The Eagles hit a trio of three-pointers in the early going, including a pair of triples by Costain--who pulled up for a trey on the game's opening possession--and a layup from Friesen put Concordia ahead by a 14-9 margin eight minutes into the game.
Concordia built a 10-point lead, at 21-11, but Allen notched a tip-in, and Rocky Mountain capitalized on an Eagles offensive foul when Johnson dunked on a give-and-go to make the score 21-15 with 7:36 left in the first half.
Although a foul by Uskoski put the Battlin' Bears in double bonus with 6:36 left to play in the period, the Eagles posted just a 7-for-12 free-throw performance in the first 20 minutes, but still managed to open a 37-26 advantage by halftime.
Costain went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc for 13 first-half points, as Concordia shot 60 percent (6-for-10) from three-point range in the opening minutes.
Concordia, which finished at second in the Golden State Athletic Conference with a 16-4 mark in GSAC games, falls to 16-6 all-time at College Basketball's Toughest Tournament, where the Eagles made their fifth appearance at the quarterfinals in program history, and fourth under Ammann.
Concordia All-Time at NAIA National Championships
The Eagles are eliminated from the tournament with the loss, and end the season at 28-7, while Rocky Mountain moves on to the semifinal round to face Robert Morris (IL) Monday evening.
Although Concordia shot 46 percent (12-for-26), including 60 percent (6-for-10) in the first half, the Eagles couldn't seem to get a shot to fall in the game's final 20 minutes, as they shot 34 percent (11-for-32) and hit just one three-point shot in 10 attempts.
The Eagles shot just 52 percent (11-for-21) from the free-throw line, the second-lowest mark of the season.
"This team can hold their heads high," head coach Ken Ammann said. "They played just about as good as they possibly could have, but only one team wins the title, and that wasn't us this year. We played five great halves and one bad one (in the tournament), and so it's tough to have to end it on the bad half."
All-GSAC senior Kingsley Costain scored a game-high 26 points in the loss, while fellow All-GSAC senior Phil Friesen scored 10 points and hauled down four rebounds. Senior forward Tyler Gottstein played through what may have been a broken nose and grabbed six rebounds in his final game as an Eagle.
The Battlin' Bears were led by Devin Uskoski's NAIA-leading 27th double-double of the year, as he scored 20 points and notched 16 boards, while Chase Sukut scored 17 points--including 13 in the second half.
After trailing at 37-26 heading into the locker rooms, the Battlin' Bears caught up in a hurry, as they started the second half on a 16-4 rally to take the lead at 42-41 on a Nate Richardson layup with 12:50 to play.
Rocky Mountain's James Bulluck then hit a running layup to stretch the advantage to 44-41 eight minutes into the half, and the Battlin' Bears made it a nine-point game, at 56-47 on back-to-back treys from Sukut to put Concordia in its largest hole of the game--and, consequently, its biggest deficit of the tournament.
Sukut penetrated for a layup to increase the lead to 58-47 with 8:19 on the clock, and the Battlin' Bears gained another double-digit lead when Anthony Allen tipped in a second-chance bucket to make the score 63-53 with 3:39 remaining.
Rocky Mountain out-scored the Eagles 42-26 in the paint, and 10-2 in the second-chance category thanks to 10 offensive rebounds.
Concordia gained a shot of life with two minute to go, when Worthy forced a steal at half-court and took it himself to make it a 63-55 ballgame, and Rocky Mountain committed an offensive turnover on its next possession to set the table for another layup from Worthy that made the score 63-57.
The game continued to get interesting when the Eagles forced a turnover on the Battlin' Bears' inbound pass that followed Worthy's bucket, but Worthy--who was fouled on the play--missed both of his charity-stripe attempts to return the ball to Rocky Mountain with 1:21 showing on the game clock.
Worthy then fouled out on the next play to force Sukut to the free-throw line, where he went 1-for-2 to make the score 64-57, but Costain drove to the rim to make it a five-point game at 64-59 with 52.5 to go.
The Eagles then burned Rocky Mountain's next possession, sending DeAnthony Holmes to the stripe, where he missed on a single-bonus attempt, and Costain drained a three-pointer to bring Concordia to within two points, at 64-62 with 40.7 to play.
The comeback stalled, however, as Bulluck hit all six of his free-throws on the next three possessions to stretch the lead out to 70-62 with 11.3 seconds left.
Sukut then sealed the victory with a pair of good free-throws to match a Costain three-pointer and make the final score 72-64.
The Eagles hit a trio of three-pointers in the early going, including a pair of triples by Costain--who pulled up for a trey on the game's opening possession--and a layup from Friesen put Concordia ahead by a 14-9 margin eight minutes into the game.
Concordia built a 10-point lead, at 21-11, but Allen notched a tip-in, and Rocky Mountain capitalized on an Eagles offensive foul when Johnson dunked on a give-and-go to make the score 21-15 with 7:36 left in the first half.
Although a foul by Uskoski put the Battlin' Bears in double bonus with 6:36 left to play in the period, the Eagles posted just a 7-for-12 free-throw performance in the first 20 minutes, but still managed to open a 37-26 advantage by halftime.
Costain went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe and 3-for-4 from beyond the arc for 13 first-half points, as Concordia shot 60 percent (6-for-10) from three-point range in the opening minutes.
Concordia, which finished at second in the Golden State Athletic Conference with a 16-4 mark in GSAC games, falls to 16-6 all-time at College Basketball's Toughest Tournament, where the Eagles made their fifth appearance at the quarterfinals in program history, and fourth under Ammann.
Concordia All-Time at NAIA National Championships
| Year | Finish | Opponent | Score |
| 2008-09 | Quarterfinals | Rocky Mountain (MT) | L, 64-72 |
| 2007-08 | First Round | Campbellsville (KY) | L, 63-72 |
| 2006-07 | Runner-Up | Oklahoma City | L, 71-79 |
| 2004-05 | First Round | Carroll (MT) | L, 72-85 |
| 2003-04 | Runner-Up | Mountain State (WV) | L, 70-74 |
| 2002-03 | National Champion | Mountain State (WV) | W, 88-84 |
| 1998-99 | Quarterfinals | Life (GA) | L, 67-83 |
