IRVINE, Calif. — After a short road trip, The Concordia Men's Basketball team (10-6, 4-4 PWC) returned to CU Arena for a PacWest victory against Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (4-12, 2-6 PWC). CUI adds this 89-67 win to their record moving to 4-4 in the PacWest. Fresno Pacific was picked eleventh in the PacWest preseason poll. The Sunbirds two conference wins were against Holy Names and Biola. 

Brian Chambers led the Eagles offense with 21 points. JT Roach recorded 20 points and went 4-7 in three pointers. Tad Dufelmeier posted 15 points and six rebounds and four assists.  

The scoring started early and both teams pressed for points. A jumper by Cameron English put the Eagles on the board, assisted by Chambers. The Sunbirds led 11-5 after four minutes adding points from two jumpers and a three pointer. 

With free throws in their favor, The Eagles started to gain momentum. Chambers propelled Concordia past FPU with back to back three pointers, assisted by Dufelmeier and Adam Turner. The guard then added a layup increasing the Eagles lead to 7 points, 24-17. 

A block by Mike Mellinger in the 12th minute kept the CUI lead. Moments later, Roach hit a three pointer assisted by English and followed it up with a layup.

With 2:14 remaining, Dufelmeier played an around the back pass to fool the defense and give Roach a clear shot at the basket for a layup off the window. 

Roach drained a three pointer with 30 seconds left and the teams headed to halftime with a Concordia lead, 43-33. 

Dufelmeier got the Eagles off and running in the second half, hitting two free throws and a layup in the first two minutes. 

Layups by English and Denzel Holt added to the scoreboard, Fresno Pacific trailed 55-37. 

Tyler Lacour hit a three pointer with 12 minutes remaining to continue the offensive surge. 

Roach threw a cross court pass with 8:33 left, Dufelmeier snagged the pass and dunked. 

Chambers and English hit back to back three pointers with six minutes left in the contest. The Eagles offense surged and delivered a dunk by English, assisted by Roach. 

Concordia took down Fresno Pacific 89-67 in conference play improving their record to 10-6 and 4-4 in the PacWest. 

"The last 2 games, even though we lost one of them, still felt right. Our team is competing at a higher level and we're starting to get better", Coach Ken Ammann said. "I'm really happy at how well we're playing together and tonight was important, not just to get a win, but a win we can build on. Our guys have shown great character through one of the most difficult stretches of adversity we've faced in a while".

UP NEXT

CUI Men's Basketball heads to La Mirada, Calif. for a PacWest matchup against Biola. Tip off is scheduled for January 13th at 7:30pm.