Poor first half dooms No. 12 Men’s Basketball in 78-69 loss

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The host Cardinals of Concordia made 10 of their first 12 shots from the field and built a 17-point halftime lead which was enough to hold off No. 12 Cornerstone in a 78-69 loss for the Golden Eagles. Kyle Steigenga (FR/Holland, Mich.) finished with a double-double for CU with 22 points and 10 rebounds as they fall to 9-4 on the season and 5-2 in the WHAC. CU will resume play next Friday vs. Edwards Waters (Fla.) in West Palm Beach.

Game Flow
The host Cardinals took charge from the opening tip as they scored the first four points and then upped their lead to as many as 21 at 36-15 with 7:59 to play. CU did cut that margin to 14 with triples from Cory Cox (SO/Flushing, Mich.), Joey Blauwkamp (SO/Grandville, Mich.) and Eric Readman (SO/Fenton, Mich.) but a banked three and one that beat the shot clock in the final minute allowed CUAA to go up 49-32 at the break.

The Golden Eagles slowly chipped away at the lead in the second half as they did not allow Concordia to connect on a field goal until the 12:20 mark and only allowed them four points in the first 10 minutes. The lead was cut to just three (55-52) after Cory Cox hit three consecutive three-pointers but that would be as close as they would get with Concordia holding on to the lead down the stretch.

By the Numbers
45.5 – Free-throw percentage for Cornerstone – CU made just 10 of their 22 attempts

49-32 – Halftime score of which CU cut to as little as three multiple times in the second half

10 – 3-point field goals for the host Cardinals – CUAA Made nine of those in the first half

9/10 – Field goals for Kyle Steigenga – improving on his .662 percentage on the season

Up Next
Cornerstone will be in action in the Sunshine State next weekend as they take on Edward Waters on Thursday and No. 3 ranked Northwood (Fla.) on Friday.'

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