Concordia tops U.T.-Dallas at ASC Tournament

02/29/08

Belton, TX - The Concordia Texas men's basketball team turned up the pressure in the second half and the Tornados went on to an 89-78 victory over U.T.-Dallas in the first round of the American Southwest Conference Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Friday in Belton. Concordia moves into the second round of the ASC Tournament for the first time in the program's history and improves to 18-8 on the season. The Tornados will face Howard Payne in a 2:00 PM semifinal tomorrow afternoon. The loss ends the Comets season at 17-9 on the year.

Concordia built an early eight-point lead in the first half before U.T.-Dallas too over with a 21-5 run to give the Comets an eight-point edge. The two teams traded buckets to close out the half and UTD led 37-29 at halftime. The Tornados stormed back to take a 45-43 lead with 14:20 left in the game. The Comets would get the lead back at 52-50, but Concordia took over from there and clinched the game from the free-throw line.
Concordia shot 26-34 from the free-throw line and hit 44 per cent from the field. UTD shot 44 per cent from the field, but went just 15-23 from the charity stripe. Concordia also outrebounded UTD 47-35 in the game.

Brad Walker had a huge game for Concordia, scoring 28 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. Michael Moore and Joel McDonald added 16 points apiece and Justin Reefer came off the bench to add 10 points for the Tornados. Ernie Lowery had a game-high 21 points for the Comets. Jimmy Whitten added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, Brandon Greene chipped in 12 points and Jordan Eppink and Andy Maish scored 10 points apiece for UTD.