IRVINE, Calif. – Showcasing a balanced offensive attack and a gritty defensive effort on the perimeter, the Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team had No. 8 Point Loma on upset alert for the second straight evening.

Freshman Drew Ramirez was perfect from the field in the first half and scored 13 of his 16 points before intermission. His trey with just over five minutes remaining in the contest tied it at 72-72.

Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Sea Lions made a couple timely baskets late to fend off a valiant effort by the Green and Gold. Point Loma ended the game on a 17-6 run to stay undefeated.

Dominic Hovasse mirrored Ramirez with 16 points of his own to lead the CUI offense. He nailed three triples and Ramirez sank four shots from downtown to give the Eagles a boost.  Concordia shot a sizzling 46 percent (10-for-22) from three-point land and guarded the arc well for the second night in a row.

"We had a great team effort along with a lot of great individual efforts," said CUI head coach Ken Ammann. "We are improving each week on both ends of the floor as well. It's a shame to work that hard and play as well as we did offensively and still be behind at halftime. We cleaned up all the things that have been getting us beat, but (it's) hard to beat a good team when you turn the ball over 20 times.  If we continue to work like we did this week, we will finish well."

Freshman Mac Stodart scored 11 points to help the cause and Kayle Knuckles added 10 points less than 24 hours after dropping 21 on the Sea Lions.

Dayshone Henry defended the rim well and racked up a career-high five blocks, while also handing out three assists. All eight Eagles who played scored at least six points.

The Eagles return to action this Friday, Feb. 19 at Azusa Pacific at 4:30 p.m.  CUI will then host APU on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 4:30 p.m.

#CUITogether