HONOLULU, HAWAII — The Concordia Men's Basketball team (8-2, 2-0 PWC) continued its Hawaiian road trip on Saturday night against the Hawai'i Pacific University Sharks (4-4, 1-1 PWC). The Eagles landed in the win column for the second time this trip, taking the PacWest opponent down with a second half comeback.
Defending PacWest champions Hawai`i Pacific unloaded a lot of talent from last year's team, which reached the West Regional semifinals. The Sharks didn't return any of last year's starters, but they did add three transfers from NCAA Division I programs. HPU was picked to finish seventh in the PacWest preseason poll.
In tonight's matchup, Tad Dufelmeier led the Eagles with 24 total points, six rebounds, two steals, and five assists. The guard was 11 for 11 on free throws. Brian Chambers scored 13 points and had three rebounds.Tyler Lacour grabbed eight of the Eagles' 32 rebounds. The forward scored 10 points and posted one block. Geoff Gerlach had three steals and nine points on the night.
The Eagles took an early lead at three minutes after a steal by Dufelmeier, a jumper by Gerlach, and a layup by Chambers.
Lacour brought the CUI lead to three points with a layup in the fourth minute and a 9-6 score.
The ball switched possession and the Sharks' offense evened the score and eventually took the lead 10-9 off of a tip-in from Niksha Federico.
Fighting back, JT Roach and Mike Mellinger scored a couple jumpers to keep both teams within a few points of each other.
Concordia had a 18-17 lead with 10 minutes remaining. HPU drained a three pointer that created a gap and a lead for the Sharks that lasted until the halftime buzzer. The Eagles headed to halftime trailing Hawai'i Pacific 36-29.
With the second half underway, the Sharks continued to challenge the Eagles defense.
Lacour hit a three pointer in the sixth minute to cut the HPU lead to five points. As the offensive momentum picked up, the Eagles added jumpers by Chambers and Dufelmeier.
Gerlach grabbed a defensive rebound and scored a layup to steal the lead in the 11th minute, assisted by Michael Vos-Otin.
With four minutes remaining, the teams were tied at 60 points apiece. Chambers hit a three pointer to break the tie and give the Eagles the lead they Helen onto for the rest of the game.
Dufelmeier drained a three pointer to add to the gap and a couple Eagle free throws ended the contest in favor of Concordia, 73-66.
UP NEXT
The Eagles close out the Hawaiian road trip with a PacWest matchup against The University of Hawai'i at Hilo on December 4th. Tip off is scheduled for 9:30pm PST.
