Feb. 20, 2008

NAIA Scoreboard | NAIA Weekly

SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- For one night - hopefully not the last night for Concordia (Calif.) Eagle fans - everything went right for #5-ranked Concordia. The Eagles shot 71 percent in the second half to run away with a 104-72 Golden State Athletic Conference win over #16-ranked Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.), Tuesday night (Feb. 19) in Golden Gymnasium.

The Eagles made 38-of-61 field goal attempts for the game (.623), matching their best shooting percentage since a 93-81 win at Holy Names on November 15, 2004. The team made 21-of-25 from the free throw line (.840) and tallied 55 points in the second half, their 2nd-best offensive half of the season.

Even more impressive is the fact that the dominating performance comes on the heels of an 18-point victory at Fresno Pacific on Saturday night. Spanning the northern and southern ends of the conference, the Eagles rebounded from a 2-2 stretch earlier in the month to restate their intention to defend their GSAC title.

"It was great for our guys to get these last two victories," said head coach Ken Ammann. "We had to have great focus and toughness to get both of these wins and I'm proud of the way our guys responded."

The Eagles went about establishing their inside game and dominated the paint with a 46-14 scoring edge. The frontline bench trio of Ben Smith, Chris Minardo and Tyler Gottstein combined to shoot 13-of-16 from the field to score 34 of the team's 51 bench points while starters Joe Roberson and Josh Kramer had 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting between the two.

An even first eight minutes of the game shifted toward the Eagles as the defense cranked things up to match the offensive efficiency. A lay-up by Ryan Read at the 12:04 mark sparked a 16-3 run over 4:49 to give the Eagles a 33-20 lead. Four of the six field goals during the stretch were inside while Kramer and Adam Greenaway each added a pair of free throws.

"Our team focus is just to play at a high level each and every game," said Ammann, who now has won at least 20 games in all but one of his seven seasons in charge. "The team has done a great job of that this past week under some tough circumstances."

The momentum gained toward the end of the second half carried into the second half as the Eagles played one of their most complete 20-minute stretches of the season. The Eagles turned nine second-half turnovers into 16 points, tallied 24 of their 55 points in the paint and posted a 16-7 rebounding edge.

Five players scored in double figures while all 11 players that suited up scored at least four points. Rafael Da Silva hit 8-of-11 overall to lead all scorers with 19 points while Gottstein had 12 points and a game-high 7 rebounds. Smith, Minardo and Read each added 11 points while Terrence Worthy added 9 points, 4 assists and 2 steals.

Craig Austin, Curtis Carlson and Noble'D Shelton each had 13 points to lead the way for Point Loma Nazarene (18-8, 9-7 GSAC). Nick Corso added 11 points off the bench for the Sea Lions while Austin had five rebounds.

Concordia (21-4, 12-4 GSAC) plays 3-of-4 at home to complete the regular season, starting this Saturday, February 23 against Biola at 7:30 p.m. Biola enters the game with wins in 5-of-6, including a 72-66 victory over Westmont on Tuesday night in La Mirada.