Patchen pushes Eagles to PacWest win
Emily Duran
Box Score Dalton Patchen put 20 points on the board for the Eagles Thursday night, pushing them to a PacWest win over Dominican University. The 79-74 victory places the Concordia at 11-8 overall and 7-4 in conference.
Patchen's play propelled the Eagles through a physical game. He made five of seven from the field and hit four out of five from the three-point range. He also added four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
"Dalton really stepped up for us and did a great job," Head Coach
Ken Ammann said. "His best game of the year, so that was huge."
Along with Patchen, the Eagles saw a well-rounded performance from
Tad Dufelmeier. Dufelmeier's dynamic play gave the Eagles 18 points, two steals one assist and one block.
"It's great to see him settle in and become the player he should be," Ammann said. "He's doing a great job of running and leading the team."
The Eagle win did not come easy. The team slipped behind 14-2, until
Josh Hauser's jumper cracked the Penguin run.
Brian Chambers, who scored 15 on the night, delivered a three-pointed to reduce the lead to seven. Hauser then sunk three straight free throws to put the Eagles within four. They finally took over the game at 23-22 on a Dufelmeier layup. They turned the game around, closing out the first 20 minutes ahead 36-30.
"They jumped all over us and they did a great job," Ammann said. "I was really proud of our guys for keeping their poise."
The Eagles needed their poise not only at the start of the game, but the finish. Despite a 21 point Eagle lead with 7:20 to play in the second half, the Penguins pushed back. Dominican strung together a few key scoring runs to reduce the difference to three with three seconds remaining. The Penguins sent
Justin Davis to the free throw line and the senior secured the five point victory by making both of his shots.
Concordia continues its home stand on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at CU Arena against Chaminade University.
"They are very experienced and you're never going to rattle them." Ammann said. "They are hungry and want to make the tournament, we have our hands full again."
In addition to another competitive matchup, Saturday is Concordia's homecoming event.
