IRVINE, Calif. - The energy was there both on the court and in the entire gym for Wednesday's home exhibition game between Concordia and incoming PacWest Conference member Vanguard.
There were thrilling offensive rebounds that extended possessions and Concordia racked up nine steals over the course of the contest.
With the student section rocking, Concordia built its largest lead midway through the first half. The Golden Eagles were up nine before Vanguard rallied and snatched a 34-33 halftime lead.
CUI again threatened to pull away in the second half but a late surge by the visiting Lions helped Vanguard escape with a hard-fought 62-60 victory that came down to the final buzzer.
"There were a lot of positives especially with our new guys," said CUI head coach
Ken Ammann. "We moved the ball well. Vanguard really plays hard and tries to disrupt you and we took care of the ball really well so that was a good sign. Our shot selection was great and our ball movement was great. We missed a lot of shots that we will make. Maybe we settled for too many threes, but there weren't really many bad ones (shots).
"I thought the effort on both ends of the floor was outstanding," added Ammann. "Probably the biggest thing that cost us was we gambled a couple times and then didn't box out."
Newcomer
Tim Adetukasi scored 16 points which was tops among all players. He and
Kobe Sanders each hauled in eight rebounds to lead the Golden Eagles.Â
Senior guard and SAAC rep
Connor Gleason and freshmanÂ
Jackson Harding each added 10 points as well. Gleason made both of his three-point shots to help the cause.
Vanguard is coached by former Concordia basketball player and assistant coach Rhett Soliday. Soliday actually played on CUI head coach
Ken Ammann's team his first year in Irvine and was also an assistant coach with Ammann when Concordia won the 2003 NAIA National Championship.
CUI visits Pepperdine in another exhibition contest Monday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. for one final tune-up before the regular season begins. CUI opens with two non-conference games hosted by Biola. The Golden Eagles will first face Cal State San Marcos on Friday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. before playing Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in La Mirada.
The home opener for CUI men's basketball is on Saturday, Dec. 16 against Dominican after a very unorthodox eight games to begin the season away from home.
CLICK HERE for the CUI men's basketball schedule
