IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia Golden Eagles secured a statement victory on Saturday evening, closing out No. 12 Point Loma by a final count of 68-65 in a tough battle between two of the top teams in the region.
The game went down to the final buzzer and both coaches emptied their pockets by using all of their timeouts. After
Connor Gleason hit a left-handed, Kyrie Irving-esque layup high off the glass to put CUI up by five, Point Loma answered with a quick bucket to make it a one-possession game.
The Sea Lions had a look at a potential game-tying three point in the final seconds, but the shot did not fall and CUI corralled the victory to improve to 7-3 overall and 2-1 in PacWest play.
"That was a phenomenal effort by our guys," said CUI head coach
Ken Ammann. "That's a very experienced group on the other side that has won a lot of close games and it took a tremendous effort. That was all guts and finding a way to get it done. Nothing was easy, and defensively that is just a really, really, hard team to guard. Our guys couldn't have played any harder on the defensive end of the floor. Extremely proud of them."
Joseph Locandro was fantastic for the second straight game, scoring a game-high 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting. He went a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc and was a solid 4-for-5 at the charity stripe.
"Joe has had a phenomenal week, and especially in the first half of both games he's been huge. When it's hard to score buckets, he's putting the ball in the basket and being such a presence down there."
Jayce Catchings added a great all-around game with eight points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists. He also pulled down four offensive rebounds which equaled Point Loma's entire total. Along with his performance in
Concordia's home win against APU on Wednesday, Catchings collected ten total steals for his team in the last two outings.
Kaden Minter contributed 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting and supplied some huge baskets – including a tough jumper over a defender near the elbow down the stretch. He also had a three-pointer waved off that just missed beating the shot clock on another possession. The sophomore from Mater Dei High School was also a big part of one of the more memorable moments of the game when the Golden Eagles swarmed the ball handler for a steal and pushed the ball ahead to a racing Minter for a breakaway dunk that pushed CUI's lead to 58-47.
The clutch victory snaps a five-game losing streak against the Sea Lions and is the first win for CUI in the series since 2021.
With these two big conference wins in the bag and finals week in the rear view mirror, Concordia gets a week to prepare for their last contest of the calendar year. The Golden Eagles travel north to play the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 4:30 p.m. before breaking for the Christmas holiday. The women will play as the first part of a PacWest doubleheader that afternoon as well.
That will be one of four consecutive road games on the conference schedule, with CUI's next home doubleheader slated for Jan. 9 against Vanguard at 7 p.m. following the women's game at 5 p.m.
CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's basketball schedule
