Orange, CALIF. - The Concordia men's basketball squad took on the 2018 NCAA Division II National Champion Ferris State Bulldogs and the two powerhouse programs put on a show. Unfortunately for the Green and Gold the Bulldogs took the 91-83 victory in overtime.
First half action began and the Eagles came out with the competitive spirit. To set the tone for the game, the senior transfer for the Green and Gold, Rob McCoy, converted the contest's first field goal with a ferocious dunk.
From then on, CUI had made their statement that they are there to compete no matter who the opponent is. Throughout the first 10 minutes of the battle, it was a back and forth struggle for the two squads to gain control. The score was knotted at 12-12 when a costly turnover from the Eagles gave the Bulldogs a little bit of confidence which led to a quick 5 to 0 run and a Concordia timeout.
After the timeout, the Colorado native Kayle Knuckles got rough in the paint for an offensive rebound and putback that gave the Irvine squad their first bucket in three minutes of action. Moments later senior big man Cameron English checked into the game and sunk a much needed jumpshot.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, that would be the team's last field goal for the next five minutes of action. Unlike their previous performance in the tournament where CUI shot 13-33 from behind the arc, the pre-season #23 ranked Eagle squad shot 9-35 from long distance against the Bulldogs.
The Green and Gold fell behind and ended the half with the score 35-24 in favor of Ferris State.
The second half began and the well-coached Concordia Irvine squad came out with some fire after regrouping and encouraging words from head coach Ken Ammann.
Within the first five minutes of the half, the Eagles cut the deficit to four points after outscoring the Bulldogs 14 to 7. But within the next five minutes Ferris State's veteran squad went on an 11 to 0 run to give the Bulldogs some cushion with only 10 minutes remaining in the game.
The next seven minutes of the contest FSU looked to be in control but in the tradition of Concordia men's basketball team, the competing did not end until the final whistle.
"I was pretty happy about how we played as a team in this tournament," said Jalen Sanders. "Considering the amount of new players we have, we have been able to figure out how to play well with each other in spurts."
The last three minutes of the game saw the versatile Andre Green, the two former San Diego City College standouts, McCoy and Robert Taylor and the two Colorado natives Sanders and Knuckles competing like their lives depended on it, bringing the Eagles back within three points with 30 seconds remaining in regulation.
It was Knuckles' time to shine and he did what he does best. Knuckles knocked down the bigtime game-tying 3-pointer with about 20 seconds remaining.
"Jalen called for a screen and right then we both knew that I would get the ball on the pop," said Knuckles. "So I picked and I popped and Jalen made a great pass, and the shot went in."
The Bulldogs called a timeout and drew up a play for the game-winning field goal but Green had other plans in mind and played outstanding defense to force a difficult jumpshot and a Taylor rebound to send the 72-72 battle to overtime.
Overtime began and the Eagles and Bulldogs found themselves to be at a draw halfway through the period. McCoy headed to the free-throw line and sunk his free-throws to put Concordia up with just over two and a half minutes remaining.
That would be the last lead of the night for the Green and Gold as the former National Champion Ferris State team went on a run and sank their late game shots from the charity stripe for the 91-83 victory over the Eagles.
"Ferris State is extremely well coached and way ahead of us right now at executing all the details on both ends of the floor to win a game like this," said Ammann. "So in light of that, I couldn't be more proud of how hard we fought to get that game to OT."
The Eagles will be back in action on Friday, November 8th at 7:00 p.m. at Cal State LA for the annual CCAA/PacWest Challenge.
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