Bruton's breakaway second half leads Eagles to a win
Emily Duran
Box Score The Eagles opened up the Ayres Thanksgiving Classic with a 67-55 win over the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Friday.
The high scoring Lion's were slowed down by the Eagles' defense and Case Bruton's all-around performance.
Bruton led the Eagles with 15 points and three steals in his 28 minutes on the pitch. 
"Case Bruton was sensational tonight and I'm very happy for him," Head Coach Ken Ammann said.
Concordia, now 2-4 on the year, looked to claim a win on the road to open up the Thanksgiving weekend tournament.
"When you lose a few games it becomes easier to panic when the game starts to slip away from you," Ammann said.
The Eagles saw a tightly fought game in the first half, but held on to the lead from 19 minutes on. They closed out the first half up by two on the jumper from Justin Davis.
Concordia cooked up a five-point lead at the start of the second on a three-pointer from Mike Mellinger, but then, the Lions began to claw their way back into the game.
After the Lions tied the game at 36 a piece, they built momentum and took over the game by five.
A series of consecutive free throws from Geoff Gerlach and Justin Davis cut off the Lion run.
Brian Chambers followed up with a long shot to add three more for the Eagles.
With the score tied at 50-50 and with 6:27 to play, Bruton broke open the game for the Eagles. Bruton's 10 points and steal solidified a Concordia lead and eventual win.
Chambers chipped in 12 points and one assist. Mellinger scored 11 points and Davis added 10 with five assists and two steals.
"We had a lead for 30 plus minutes and then went down six," Ammann said. "Our guys showed incredible toughness to stay focused and battle back."
The Eagles continue the Ayres Classic Saturday at 5 p.m. against Simon Fraser University.
