IRVINE, Calif. – Exactly one week before Thanksgiving, the Concordia men's basketball team was hungry for one more home win.
And just five games into the young season, the Golden Eagles have now defeated two of the projected top three teams in the CCAA.
In a physical contest on Thursday night, CUI held CCAA Preseason Favorite Cal State Dominguez Hills to a season-low 59 points and improved to 4-1 with a 13-point victory. CUI held the Toros under 80 points for the first time this season and out rebounded their opponent 37-29.
Jayce Catchings drove to the rim early and often and finished with a game-high 16 points and a +18 while on the floor.
Charlie Dalton also scored 16 points and wrangled a team-best six rebounds while finishing a +17 in the game.
Sophomore
Kaden Minter joined the cause with 11 points and
Jaden Henderson had a dozen to put four Golden Eagles in double figures.
Concordia also shot a solid 80 percent from the free throw line. The Golden Eagles went 20-for-25 at the charity stripe, led by Dalton (8-for-10) and Catchings (6-for-7).
"(Cal State) San Bernardino & Cal State Dominguez Hills are the most talented teams in our region," explained CUI head coach
Ken Ammann. "That was a great win. That team was picked to win the top conference in the west. It took 40 minutes of focus and we knew we needed to have that and I'm proud of our guys for playing through touch stretches on both ends. We really struggled to move the ball against them, they are really good at jamming you and it was really, really hard to get into an offensive rhythm. They sped us up and were really hard to go against. I'm really proud of our group."
With under eight minutes to go, CUI scored back-to-back buckets in the paint to force a CSUDH timeout. Minter banked in a shot from close range and then after coming up with a steal, CUI worked the ball to
Jackson Tucker who drew two defenders and dished to a cutting Catchings for a wide-open layup. That pushed the CUI lead to 59-49. CUI was able to fend off a late push by the Toros and grab the decisive 72-59 victory.
CUI led 36-27 at the break after making a strong push to close the first half. Two free throws by Tucker, a pair of buckets down low by
Joseph Locandro, and then a fast break layup by Minter off a pass from Henderson helped give CUI control of the game.
Four different Concordia players made a three-pointer in the first 20 minutes. The trio of
Joseph Locandro,
Connor Gleason and
Kaden Minter each scored seven points in a balanced attack.
Concordia now owns a home win over the Toros and
a clutch road win over Cal State LA - who was picked to finish No. 3 in the CCAA Preseason Poll. Cal State San Bernardino is also on the schedule next Wednesday.
But first, Concordia has a quick road trip up north on Friday for their upcoming Saturday matinee at Cal State East Bay. The Golden Eagles will face the Pioneers at 3 p.m.
CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's basketball schedule
