Top Ten Tussle Goes to Eagles, 78-72

Box Score 

(1/15/08 - Men's Basketball) IRVINE - With a share of first place and top 10 NAIA ranking on the line, #3-ranked Concordia laid claim to both of those positions with a 78-72 win over #9-ranked Point Loma Nazarene, Tuesday evening in Golden State Athletic Conference play.

On a night where the Eagles welcomed back two-time all-GSAC forward Joe Roberson, the focus was firmly on two of the three teams tied atop the GSAC standings with a 4-1 mark after one quarter of the 20-game marathon conference slate. Both teams threw everything they had at the other, but the Eagles managed to land a few bigger blows that proved the difference in the game.

"We had three spurts in the game and (Terrence) Worthy was involved in almost every one of them," said Concordia head coach Ken Ammann, whose team has won 10-straight games and 21-of-22 at home dating back to last season. "Lawrence and Greenaway got us going early on, we had that run right before halftime and then Read got hot and those were the key stretches of the game."

Point Loma came out of the gates red hot, hitting three-straight shots as well as 3-of-4 free throws for an early 10-4 advantage. However, the Eagles had a counterpunch ready as four steals led to a quick 7-0 spurt, capped off by a lay-up by Adam Greenaway for a 11-10 advantage.

While the Sea Lions kept the pressure on the Eagles and maintained a slim lead for most of the half, the Eagles repeated their strong finishes from each of the past two games to deliver another shot to the Sea Lions heading into the intermission.

Trailing 29-26 with 3:23 left, Keith Lawrence drove the lane for a lay-up. A steal by Josh Kramer two possessions later led to a three-pointer by leading scorer Ryan Read and the Eagles had their first lead since early on in the half.

While the Sea Lions might have thought they had stemmed the tide after a jumper by Curtis Carlson with 1:20 left, the Eagles still had a few more shots to land before the buzzer. Terrence Worthy drained a three-pointer on the wing with 59 seconds left, then stole the ball from Casey Ortiz and fed Chris Minardo for a conventional three-point play to end the half with a 37-31 lead.

The Eagles went for the knockout blow early in the second half and looked to have the Sea Lions on the ropes with a 14-2 run to lead 59-43. Following a jumper by Josh Sanderson, the Eagles got a pair of free throws from Roberson before Read hit a three for an 11-point cushion.

Brian Ormon put back a missed three-pointer by Ortiz, but Read answered with a step-back jumper of his own from the left elbow. Chris Minardo flushed down a dunk off a Read miss before the duo combined for five more points with Read going the distance after a steal before Tyler Gottstein hit Minardo in the corner for a three of his own.

A much-needed timeout seemed to settle things down for the Sea Lions and they began to chip away at the Concordia lead. Still down by 14 with 8:32 left, the Sea Lions scored 8-straight points amidst a 12-3 run to make the Concordia crowd nervous as the lead was now just 67-62 with five minutes on the clock.

The teams traded baskets the next few minutes before Sanderson hit a three from the left wing to make it 72-69 with 54 seconds left. Worthy answered on the next possession with two free throws, then recorded the last of his season-high six steals on the ensuing possession to effectively ice the win.

"We played a pretty sloppy game and had a lot of turnovers, but our defensive intensity really saved us tonight," said Ammann, who is now 11-1 all-time against the Sea Lions. "That's a very good team and they probably had a lot to do with the fact that we couldn't score very well."

For one of the few times over the past three seasons, the Eagles committed more turnovers (20-19) than its opponent and saw the Sea Lions claim a 28-17 lead in points off turnovers. However, the Eagles won the battle of the boards, 34-26, hit 11 more free throws and three more three-pointers to help swing the pendulum in their favor.

Read was 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, to lead all scorers with 22 points for the Eagles. Worthy was 8-of-10 at the line and tallied 15 points, 6 assists and 6 steals while Gottstein and Roberson had 8 and 7 rebounds, respectively.

Sanderson tallied 17 points and 3 assists to lead Point Loma Nazarene (13-3, 4-2 GSAC), which has now lost back-to-back conference games to slip into a tie for third place with Vanguard. Ormon had 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds while Craig Austin added 10 points.

Concordia (14-1, 5-1 GSAC) hits the road this Saturday, January 19 to battle local rival Biola with tip-off set for 7:30 p.m.