Concordia University rallied for a 75-73 win over Morningside College in GPAC men's basketball on Saturday evening. Concordia won its fifth straight game to improve to 13-6 overall and 8-2 in conference play. Morningside slipped to 10-9 overall and 4-5 in conference play with the loss.
Concordia got off to a sluggish start offensively, and the visiting Mustangs capitalized in the first half. The Bulldogs connected on just 12-of-33 shots from the field in the opening half for 36.4 percent, while Morningside hit 16-of-25 shots in the first 20 minutes for 64 percent. The Mustangs took a 44-33 lead into the halftime break.
Concordia cut into the deficit, but Morningside held onto the lead for a good portion of the second half. The Bulldogs reclaimed the lead at 59-58 on a three pointer by Tyler Byrd with just over seven minutes remaining in the contest. The game went down to the wire with several ties and lead changes down the stretch.
Concordia took a slim 70-69 lead on two made free throws by Ryan Railey with just over two minutes left to play. A jumper by Morningside's Eddie Marrs gave the Mustangs a 71-70 lead, but Concordia's Porter Birtell answered with a layup to give Concordia a 72-71 advantage. Following a Morningside miss, Ryan Shrum hit two free throws to extend the Bulldog lead to three at 74-71 with just over a minute remaining.
Marrs scored to pull the Mustangs within one at 74-73 with 50 seconds left to play. Following a Concordia miss, Morningside had a chance to win the game. However, Marrs missed a jumper in the final seconds, and Brian Evans secured the rebound for Concordia. Evans was fouled and hit one of two from the foul line to give Concordia a 75-73 lead with a few seconds remaining. Joel Haveman missed a deep three point attempt as time expired, and Concordia held on for the 75-73 victory.
"We were really disappointed at halftime," said Grant Schmidt, head coach of the Bulldogs. "We didn't play well early, but we came back and won the second half by 13 points. Our wings really stepped up defensively in the second half, and we just let the offense come to us as the game went on. We had a lot of timely plays by several guys in this game."
Concordia hit 12-of-23 shots in the second half to rally for the win, while Morningside was just 9-of-31 from the field in the final half of play. For the game, Concordia was 24-of-56 for 42.9 percent. The Bulldogs were 10-of-21 from the three point line for 47.6 percent and 17-of-26 from the free throw line for 65.4 percent. Morningside was 25-of-56 from the field on the evening for 44.6 percent. The Mustangs were 4-of-11 from behind the three point line for 36.4 percent and 19-of-29 from the free throw line for 65.5 percent. Concordia held a 36-35 rebounding advantage. Concordia had 13 turnovers in the game compared to 11 for the Mustangs.
Porter Birtell had another huge night to lead the way for Concordia. Birtell, last week's GPAC Player-of-the-Week, had a double-double of 24 points and 13 rebounds in the Bulldog win. He was 10-of-15 from the field and 4-of-6 at the foul line on the night. Tyler Byrd scored 14 points, and Sam Huebner added nine points and two blocks. Dustin Weber scored eight points, and Ryan Shrum poured in seven points off then bench for Concordia.
Eddie Marrs scored 21 points to lead Morningside College. Garth Hamilton added 12 points, and Mitch Carstens scored 10 for the Mustangs.
Concordia hosts Midland Lutheran on Jan. 20. The game is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Health, Human Performance and Athletic Center.
