Orange, Calif. - The Concordia University Irvine Eagles rounded out their three days at the Disney DII Tip-Off Classic with a solid defensive outing Sunday against one of the top 10 NCAA Division II teams in the country.

Unfortunately their gritty effort was not enough to knock off No. 4 West Texas A&M as the Eagles were saddled with a 65-57 loss.

The Eagles (1-2) did a good job of forcing the Buffs to take tough shots in the first half, especially from the perimeter.  West Texas A&M (3-0) shot just 2-for-13 from three-point land before intermission and finished the game a paltry 5-for-25 from behind the arc (20 percent).

Senior Brian Chambers led Concordia with 17 points and crashed the boards for a game-high 12 rebounds.  Redshirt sophomore Austin Clarke added 10 points and made his first start as an Eagle after dropping a team-high 16 points in Saturday's win over Drury University.

Tyler Lacour and Chambers combined to score their team's first 10 points Sunday as the Eagles built an early five-point lead.  But an 8-0 run pushed West Texas A&M in front late in the first half and the Green and gold trailed 30-25 by the time the two teams headed to the locker rooms at halftime.

The Buffs took control early in the second half thanks to a 12-2 run that put the Eagles in a 13-point hole.  A couple of free throws by Clarke with just under five minutes to play cut the deficit to six but the Eagles could not get any closer the rest of the way.

"We did a great job competing together especially being down a couple guys with injuries," said Concordia head coach Ken Ammann. "We learned a ton and have a lot of areas to work on to improve before the conference challenge this next week."

For the first time this season, Concordia outrebounded its opponent, 34-30.  The Eagles also converted all 11 of their free throw attempts.  However, the Buffs won the turnover battle as CUI committed 16 turnovers to only nine for West Texas A&M.

The Eagles return to action this Friday, Nov. 9 at 3:00 p.m. when they face Cal State LA in La Mirada at the PacWest/CCAA Crossover Tournament.  Concordia's first home game is scheduled for the day after Black Friday on Saturday, Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. against Antelope Valley.