Orange, Calif. - Just two games into the young season, the Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team has already proven it can never be counted out of any game.

For the second time in two days, the Eagles erased a double-digit lead in the second half against a tough non-conference opponent in the Disney DII Tip-Off Classic. On Saturday, Concordia received a big boost from its bench and was able to fend off Drury University by a count of 65-62 down the stretch.

Newcomers Austin Clarke and Kyle Gray led the charge after the Eagles fell behind 48-31.  Clarke paced the Eagles with 16 points and Gray added 13 points and three steals to pick up the slack after the starters struggled to find their rhythm out of the gate.

"Once we got down, we knew we had to lift our energy to finish out with a win," said Clarke. "I definitely felt more comfortable out there today and I attribute that to my teammates. We were feeding off of each other and getting more comfortable with each other's playing styles."

Clarke sank four treys and also led CUI with seven boards.  He broke a 60-60 tie with a three-pointer with less than two minutes left in regulation and then Gray scored on a layup to put the game out of reach.  Gray went a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and converted five of his six free throw attempts as well.

The Eagles trailed for the majority of the game until Gray came up with a steal and sank two freebies after getting fouled with about three minutes and change to play.

"We took way too long to show some fight today but when we finally did we really battled," said Concordia head coach Ken Ammann. "Also, it's one thing to scrap back into the game and another to do that and then actually pull off the win against a disciplined well-coached program like Drury. Our guys off the bench were sensational and got it done for us today."

"It felt good and everyone was excited especially coming off a tough loss yesterday, but the way we finished today, everyone was ecstatic," added Clarke.

Transfer guard Jamel White carried the offense in the early going.  White scored Concordia's first six points but the Eagles had to play catch up for most of the first half and trailed 38-28 at halftime.

Brian Chambers added 12 points and fellow senior Geoff Gerlach collected six points and six rebounds.

Concordia faces No. 4 West Texas A&M on Sunday in its final tournament game of the weekend at 11:15 a.m. at Santiago Canyon College.