Men’s basketball beats Bethel College at home, 89-79

Sophomore forward Lukas Helms (2) prepares a cross-court pass

Photo credit: Maddy Peters

By Maddy Peters

Sports Editor

The No. 11 Concordia men’s basketball team beat the Bethel College Threshers 89-79 Saturday afternoon in Seward.

Concordia’s last preseason game ended with a 10-point lead over a team who had beaten Great Plains Athletic Conference rival Briar Cliff University earlier in their season.

The Bulldogs took an early lead and kept it for most of the game. What was concerning was when the Threshers were able to catch up and tie Concordia midway through the first half. Bethel went on a 12-3 run to put Concordia on the back foot. The Bulldogs rallied and went into the locker room with a 43-35 scoreboard.

Concordia was 16-30 on field goals and 6-9 on 3-pointers. Senior Noah Schutte was the only player to hit double digit points in the first half. He racked up 10 points.

The second half was a route for the Bulldogs. Their lead was threatened in the beginning when their lead was cut down to four, but for the majority of the half the team maintained a double-digit lead, getting ahead as far as 17 points.

The team fared better field goal wise going 14-23 but struggled with threes going 2-6 in the second half. Schutte came out the top scorer with 20 total points. Seniors Tristan Smith and Bradley Bennett were the only other Bulldogs to hit double digit points with 14 and 11 respectively.

Smith, Bennett, and sophomore Brooks Kissinger had the most rebounds for the day with five apiece. Smith and sophomore Jaxon Stueve had the most assists with five each. Smith, Schutte, and sophomore Hayden Frank had two steals each on the day. Smith also recorded the two blocks for the team.

The first half tie weighed on Coach Ben Limback’s mind coming out of the game against Bethel. A run like that is not something any coach wants to see from their team.

“It’s [Bethel] a good team, and I think we had stretches where we were really, really good and then we had stretches where we were really, really bad and I think we just got to be more consistent,” said Limback. “I think we played hard a lot of times defensively and forced 20 turnovers and that was a big key to our offense, but certainly to win the day against a good team is why you play.”

Limback’s game plan involved restricting Bethel’s Carmelo Yakubu from seeing scoring opportunities. Yakubu had a 17.8-point average coming into the game alongside high rebound and assist stats. Concordia kept him to 12 points, six assists and five rebounds.

“We wanted to control number four [Yakubu], keep him out of the paint and they spread him out with some shooters as well,” said Limback, “Defensively, you know, make sure we rebound, and we thought we could make them turnover a little bit, but definitely to keep the number four out of the paint was a big key.”

With the upcoming GPAC season on the horizon, the team looks to defend its regular season title and look for the conference title in March after a semifinal loss to Hastings College. That rematch is about a month away on Dec. 11.

“Everyone loves the conference games because there’s a lot of familiar faces and some rivalries coming up,” said Limback. “And I think to have a week to get ready for that first GPAC game, and it’s always a battle, and I think the competitive juice is—you can just feel them even today, I think it’s an important part, so looking forward to it for sure to get going already here and next weekend.”

The team is now 3-0 overall and plays Morningside University after the women’s team on Nov. 16 at 3:45 p.m. in Seward.

Revised at 11/9/24 10:40pm