LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Jamel White's three-pointer with three seconds left on the clock propelled No. 23 Concordia University Irvine to a 68-66 victory on Saturday over Cal State San Marcos.

With the Eagles trailing by a point and under five seconds to play in regulation, Darius Lee inbounded the ball with a lob pass over the paint to White. The senior from Louisiana stepped into a good look and knocked down the trey just a few feet away of his team's bench.  With the Eagles going nuts on the sidelines, the Cougars inbounded the ball and were able to hoist a half-court heave but their prayer would not be answered.

"The play was presented for Rob McCoy to come off a screen for a lob play," explained White, "but it was a distraction and I happened to be wide open for an open three and I was ready for it."

"Darius did a great job finding Jamel and his shot was perfect," said CUI head coach Ken Ammann. "Many of our games may be a grind like this so it was a big confidence builder that we found a way to win."

"After the buzzer went off everybody grabbed me full of joy," added White. "We knew it was a hard game all game long for us to come out with the victory."

Concordia improved to 4-1 overall with the hard-fought win. White and Andre Green each finished with 11 points. Redshirt sophomore Kayle Knuckles led CUI with 12 points.

"Just an extremely difficult game. They controlled the tempo and we had a tough time moving the ball and taking care of it," said Ammann. "So proud of how tough and poised our guys were down the stretch when nothing seemed to be going our way."

The Eagles shot the ball extremely well from downtown, capitalizing on 11 of their 27 attempts from behind the arc.

Saturday's game was played at a neutral location as Cal State Los Angeles hosted the PacWest/CCAA Challenge over a span of two days. CUI defeated the host Golden Eagles on Friday evening by a score of 90-76.

Concordia started the season ranked in the NABC DII Top 25 Preseason Poll for the first time in school history. The Eagles were also picked as the preseason favorites to win the PacWest Conference after finishing second in the standings last seaosn.

Up next for the Eagles is a home date with Western Washington on Friday, Nov. 15. CUI is hosting the Aramark GNAC/PacWest Challenge with Seattle Pacific and Azusa Pacific also making the trip to Irvine for the two-day tournament. Friday's game is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. CUI will also play Seattle Pacific on Saturday evening and it will be the annual "Blackout game."

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