LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Success doesn't happen overnight in sports.  It occurs over time and with a combination of teamwork, perseverance and adaptation.

The Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team secured a 73-63 road win in the regular season opener at Cal State Los Angeles and in doing so helped head coach Ken Ammann reach a rare milestone.

Saturday's battle of the Golden Eagles marked career win No. 500 for Coach Ammann.  He joins head softball coach and athletic director Crystal Rosenthal as the only two head coaches at Concordia to have won at least 500 games in their career.

"The number doesn't matter but it's nice to pause every hundred and think about all the great players and assistant coaches and we couldn't have done any of that without them," said Ammann.  "It's nice to pause each time and think about those people. That's what's most enjoyable about it for me. It's not one person – it's everybody and that's what makes it fun – the journey each year with that group of people and then whenever you reach a milestone that's what I think about."

Since joining the school in 2001, Concordia has won two NAIA National Championships, finished runner-up twice at the NAIA championships and advanced to the NCAA DII West Regional Tournament for the first time in school history.  The Stanford graduate was also recognized in 2020 as the recipient of the prestigious Harry Statham Coach of Impact Award given by Small College Basketball (SCB).

"Nothing happens without a great staff and great players," continued Ammann. "Without those two things, coaches don't win. I haven't made one basket in any of those games."

To preserve the historic victory and get this season off a on high note, Lance Coleman II scored a team-high 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting and Bryce Fitzgerald also made his regular season debut with a double-double.  Fitzgerald collected 17 points and 10 rebounds while Freddie Dybala added 12 clutch points that came off of four three-pointers.

"Freddie saved us in the first half," added Ammann. "He went 3-for-3 after a few rough possessions and way too many mediocre shots and turnovers in the first half, and we would've been behind if Freddie didn't step up and hit a bunch of those big shots. We got the job done even though it wasn't a comfortable outing for us. It was tough."

Point guard Kobe Sanders handed out seven assists to go with seven points. First-time starters Alpha Okoli and freshman Jackson Tucker combined for 11 points while Cam Fini and Kendall McHugh contributed a total of ten points together off the bench. 

"It was a hard game, they did a lot of things to try and break our rhythm but we did enough to get the win," said Ammann.  "We knew we were in for a tough fight and they were scrapping. I thought our guys did a good job staying focused at the task at hand.  Our defense was good and we didn't give them a ton of easy looks which helped us go into halftime with the lead."
 
Next up for CUI is the team's home opener on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. against Cal State Dominguez Hills.  Fans are encouraged to buy tickets ahead of time online as non-conference slate continues.

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CLICK HERE for the updated CUI men's basketball schedule