AZUSA, Calif. – Fighting for their playoff lives, the Concordia University Irvine men's basketball team traded buckets with the host Azusa Pacific Cougars throughout Saturday night's meeting.
Tim Adetukasi shot 50 percent from the field and led the Golden Eagles with 16 points.
Freshman
Charlie Dalton pounded the glass and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds.
Connor Gleason dropped 13 and
Jackson Harding added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.
CUI led by three at halftime. Senior
Jonah Tolmaire doubled that advantage when he sank a trey off a pass from
Jackson Tucker less than a minute into the second half. CUI led for most of the second half before APU tied it up at 46-46.
A big triple by
Kobe Sanders put CUI back up 51-48 with about six minutes to go. But a 13-2 run by the Cougars ultimately caged the Golden Eagles. APU escaped with a 64-56 victory.
"I've been a part of a lot of great teams so I know a championship effort when I see one," said CUI head coach
Ken Ammann. "We had that (tonight) against Azusa. Especially considering how hard it is to play with confidence after this stretch we've gone through. So I'm extremely proud of that. But extremely frustrated and sad we didn't get it done when we did enough positives to earn the win. Too many layups and unforced turnovers in the second half. But I'm proud of the courage Kobe showed tonight, as well as Tim, Conner, Charlie, Jackson, Jackson and Jonah. Our guys played with a lot of heart so it's a shame we didn't come out on top."
The loss essentially closed out Concordia's chances of making the PacWest Conference Tournament. APU is now in prime position to lock down the No. 6 seed in the bracket entering the final week of the regular season.
With the conference schedule winding down, CUI will head to Santa Barbara, where the Golden Eagles will visit Westmont for the first time since the Warriors joined the PacWest Conference. CUI won the first meeting as conference foes by a count of 69-62 when Westmont visited Irvine in January .
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI men's basketball schedule
