IRVINE, Calif. – It was a tale of two halves on Friday as the No. 23 Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team hosted Western Washington in the Aramark GNAC/PacWest Challenge.  The Eagles raced out to an early double digit lead and were up 32-25 at halftime but the Vikings went on a second half surge to earn a 79-72 victory.

Andre Green and Rob McCoy led the Eagles in scoring with 15 points. Darius Lee added 13 and senior guard Jamel White helped the cause with 10.

The Eagles came out strong and opened up an early 14-4 lead in the first half.  The Vikings rallied after a timeout to tie the game at 16 but the Green and Gold responded with a deep three by Rob McCoy to move back in front. That trey sparked an 11-0 run for the Eagles as Kayle Knuckles and Lee each dropped in layups to push the CUI lead to 27-16.

Concordia opened up a 32-25 lead by intermission but the Vikings came out on fire after the break.

"We attacked early and were rotating well on defense, but the difference in the game was we came out flat in the second half," said Lee.

Led by senior sharpshooter Trevor Jasinsky, who finished with a game-high 24 points, the Vikings came out on a 10-2 run to take a 35-34 lead. Jasinsky scored 10 of his team's 12 points during one stretch and after CUI called a timeout, the Vikings had seized control by piecing together a 22-5 run to take a 47-37 advantage.

"(WWU) came out and had like 17 points in the first four minutes (of the second half) and then we had to just dig out of a hole from there basically," added Lee.

WWU appeared to have enough breathing room with about five minutes left but then CUI went on a quick 7-0 run. Green hit a three-pointer, Lee attacked the rim for a driving layup, and then Green converted another fastbreak off a turnover to cut the deficit to just 71-66 and force a WWU timeout.

With both teams in the bonus and attacking the rim, there was a march to the free throw line the last few minutes. However, the Vikings sank 23 of their 28 free throw attempts and were able to maintain their lead.

"I told the team at halftime that was a tremendous 20 minutes of focus, competing and defending when things weren't going well offensively," said CUI head coach Ken Ammann. "I added that if we let this team get comfortable they could put up 50 points in a half and that's exactly what happened. It was just a shame to waste that effort (from the first half) and let that happen."

"You can't let a good team like that get rolling," added Ammann. "We'll get there. We need to understand how hard it is to be great and that was a tough lesson tonight."

The Eagles return to action on Saturday, Nov. 16 when they host Seattle Pacific (0-4) as part of their "Blackout" promotion to wrap up the two-day tournament in Irvine. Western Washington will also battle Azusa Pacific in a Saturday matinee starting at 2 p.m.

The "Blackout" promotion for CUI students and fans coincides with the Eagles women's volleyball game on Saturday which is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. in between the two basketball games. Fans are encouraged to wear black in support of both the volleyball and basketball teams in what is sure to be another great atmosphere at CU Arena.

For the full CUI men's basketball schedule, click here.