IRVINE, Calif. — With the fan-packed stands of CU Arena dressed in all black and the Eagles uniforms to match, Concordia Men's Basketball (12-7, 6-5 PWC) dominated the Cal Baptist Lancers (14-4, 7-3 PWC) by 13 points, 72-59. For the fourth year in a row, California Baptist had been selected by the PacWest coaches as the preseason favorite in men's basketball and was third in the standings prior to Saturday nights contest. 

JT Roach led the Eagles with 22 points, five steals and six rebounds. Tad Dufelmeier posted 16 points, four assists and three steals. Brian Chambers grabbed seven total rebounds and recorded 11 points. Shooting 47.6% from the field, Concordia's offense capitalized and recorded over 30 points off of Cal Baptist's 25 turnovers.

The rival mascot on the court raised the tension and the Eagles started the contest with a steal by Chambers that led to a layup by Mike Mellinger. The teams went almost point for point until about the fifth minute when CBU took the lead. 

Roach went up for a jumper during the seventh minute, was fouled in the air and made the shot earning a free throw and three points for the Eagles. Playing strong defense, Adam Turner swatted the ball for a huge block not a minute later. 

With nine minutes remaining in the half, Roach grabbed a steal that led to a three pointer by Dufelmeier. 45 seconds later, Roach hit a three pointer of his own to propel the Eagles past the Lancers to hold the lead for the rest of the half. Because of the strength of the Eagles defense Cal Baptist posted 13 turnovers before the half, the Eagles led the Lancers 36-30. 

Concordia's offense continued to be relentless in the second half starting with layups by Roach and Dufelmeier. A layup by Michael Vos-Otin with 13 minutes remaining sent a message to Cal Baptist that the Eagles 11 point lead was not the end for their offensive momentum. A minute later, Dufelmeier drained a three pointer and brought the score to 53-42. 

A trio of layups by Geoff Gerlach and a three pointer by Roach secured the huge 72-59 win over PacWest rivals Cal Baptist. The Eagles move to 6-5 in the PacWest.

"It felt really good to see everybody play at such a high level, especially after playing so poorly the other night.  I'm really happy for our guys that they were able to turn it around like that and compete at a high level," Head Coach Ken Ammann said. "Cal Baptist is a really good team and a really tough team, so anything less would not have got it done tonight".

Looking forward, Concordia hits the road for a PacWest matchup against Azusa Pacific on January 27th at 7:30pm.