In a rare Tuesday matinee, Concordia University Irvine men's basketball saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end against a talented Seattle Pacific squad, 76-59.

Junior Robert Taylor led the Eagles in scoring with 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field.  Kyle Gray added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds off the bench in one of his best games of the season, but the Eagles (9-5, 5-0 PacWest) shot only 39 percent in the second half and were unable to dig out of a 13-point halftime deficit. 

"For the last month our guys have competed at as high a level as we ever have," said Concordia head coach Ken Ammann.  "It's a shame to go into the break the way we competed today. We were outcompeted in every way possible.  They are a really good team and a team like that will expose you when you don't play well and they did that.  That's a good high-level opponent. You can't beat really good teams if you don't play hard."

After falling behind 38-25 by intermission, the Eagles regrouped and came out strong to start the second half.

CUI junior Cameron English set the tone on the defensive end with a resounding block of Harry Cavell at the rim and then a couple dribbles later, English received a timely bounce pass from Taylor and threw down a dunk to the delight of the crowd.  The Medford, Ore. native finished with eight points and four rebounds.

Gray also gave the team a spark with hustle plays left and right.  The junior collected five of CUI's nine offensive rebounds to give the home team a few extra possessions and totaled his second-highest scoring output of the season.
 
Gray and Taylor each hit a trey to shave the deficit to 41-37 with about 15 minutes to play in regulation. The Falcons responded a couple possessions later with two threes of their own and CUI could never get closer the rest of the way.

The Eagles shot only 4-17 from three-point land as a team while the Falcons shot a sizzling 41 percent from downtown (9-22).

Each team also committed 15 turnovers and the Eagles finished just 13-for-21 at the free throw line (62 percent).

"We went through a tough, physical stretch the last six or seven weeks so we kind of hit a wall I think," added Ammann. "We've been sloppy for the last couple games and that cost us tonight."

After a week off for the holidays, Concordia returns to action at home on Saturday, Dec. 29 against PacWest Conference rival Notre Dame de Namur.  The Eagles and Argonauts will tip off at 3 p.m. as the second part of a men's and women's doubleheader as CUI looks to extend its perfect 5-0 record in conference play.

For the full Concordia University Irvine men's basketball schedule click here.