Concordia takes down Thundering Herd with 113 points
Emily Duran
Box Score The Eagles didn't let the holiday break slow them down, and they showed it at CU Arena on Friday against Shepherd University. After winning two consecutive games entering the lull, Concordia aimed to pick up where they left off.
A large part in maintaining the tempo, level of play and getting the 113-63 win was Case Bruton. The senior's aggressive play resulted in 24 points, one assist and seven rebounds. 
"Case has been playing very aggressively in practice and it has shown in his play, he's been sensational," Head Coach Ken Ammann said. "When we went home on the Christmas break he was playing that way so it's been great to see him keep that up."
Bruton had help from an active Eagle offense, with all 13 players scoring.
Cameron English added 14 points and two assists, hitting seven of ten shots from the field. Mike Mellinger made two of three shots from behind the arch, and scored 12 points with three assists. Tad Dufelmeier dished out five assists to go along with 10 points.
Bruton wasted no time and nailed his first shot of the game for three points. Although the Eagles took an early lead, the Thundering Herd refused to quit. They bounced back to tie the game at 16. Late in the half, the Eagles' eight point run pushed them ahead by 16. They ended the half with a 50-36 lead.
Dufelmeier repeated Bruton's start to the first, scoring a three-pointer 32 seconds in. Bruton broke open the game, scoring two free throws and back to back lay ups. Concordia continued to apply defensive pressure throughout the second, while the Thundering Herd also had their hands full with offense coming from all five players on the court.
Mike Hauser's layup with 4:51 to play got the Eagles into triple digits with a 101-60 lead. With under three minutes to play, De'Jean Lark electrified the Eagle energy, driving for three consecutive lay ups. Lark added one more to finish the game at 113-63.
The Eagles return to PacWest competition with a 7-5 overall and 3-1 conference record. Concordia enters a four game road stretch starting with three in Hawai'i.
"We have to go win some games on the road," Amman said. "We're pretty much focused on a PacWest Title from here on out so it's going to be one game at a time."
The play begins at 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 3 in Honolulu, Hawai'i against Chaminade University.
