Willamette Drops Game-Winner in Final Second at Concordia

Willamette improves to 1-1 with the win

gocugo.com

(Portland, Oregon) - Dustin Hiebert’s three-pointer gave Concordia a one-point lead with seven seconds remaining, but Ryan Meehan’s layup in the final seconds gave Willamette the 89-88 victory in a men’s non-conference game played Thursday night at Cavalier Gymnasium.

The loss drops Concordia to 3-1 this season. Willamette improves to 1-1 with the win.

For much of the game, Concordia maintained close to a double-digit lead over the visiting Bearcats, but 17 missed free throws prevented the Cavaliers from putting the game away.

Willamette took a 3-0 lead in the first 11 seconds, but the Cavaliers would take the lead at 8-5 less than two minutes into the game and hold the advantage until Meehan’s three-pointer gave the Bearcats the 80-79 lead with 2:10 remaining in the game.

Concordia used an up-tempo offense and stifling defense to outscore Willamette 43-32 in the first half. The Cavaliers connected on 16 of 33 shot attempts, while the Bearcats shot only 11-of-37 from the floor in the period. Gage Aker managed the offense to the tune of 10 assists before halftime, as CU accumulated 15 total assists on 16 made baskets. The Cavaliers had a chance to lead by more, but CU shot only 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from the free throw line in the half.

The Bearcats scored the first seven points of the second half to pull within four at 43-39, but the Cavaliers outscored Willamette 14-3 over the next four minutes to increase their advantage to 15 points. A 22-9 Willamette streak pulled the Bearcats to within two points at 66-64, but CU scored the next nine points to reclaim the momentum and push the lead back to double-digits with 5:45 remaining.

Willamette once again fought back into the contest, pulling to 77-75 with 3:55 left in the game. Kevan West’s dunk gave CU the four-point lead, but a Taylor Mounts jumper at 3:31 set the stage for Meehan’s trey to give the visitors the lead.

Dustin Hiebert (Dallas, Ore./Dallas H.S.) made five free throws down the stretch to go with his three-pointer with less than 10 seconds remaining to put Concordia in position to win 88-87. But Meehan pushed through the CU defense on the perimeter and easily made his way to the hoop for the deciding layup.

Aker (Portland, Ore./Wilson H.S.) finished the game with 14 assists and nine rebounds to go with eight points for Concordia. Jourdan Sweeney Los Angeles, Calif./St. Bernard H.S.) scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Hiebert scored 21 and Drew Preuninger (Camas, Wash./Camas H.S.) added 16.

Sean Dart led Willamette with 21 points on a perfect 9-of-9 from the field. Marcus Holmes tallied 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc, including five three-pointers in the second half to spark the Bearcats’ comeback. Taylor Mounts added 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the visitors.

Concordia flies to Colorado tomorrow for weekend contests against the Colorado School of Mines and Metro State University. The Cavaliers face Colorado School of Mines tomorrow night at 7 p.m. (MST).

Source: Concordia Univeristy