Men’s basketball plays successful game against Comets in first match of Cattle Classic
Photo description: Junior Bradley Bennett prepares to shoot a free throw.
Photo from previous game
Cohen Carpenter
Sower Staff
The Concordia Bulldogs defeated the Mayville State Comets Friday night in their first matchup of the season at the Cattle Classic, 88-73.
The back and forth game was highlighted, on the Concordia end, by the aggressive and dominating play in the paint through two halves. On the night, the Bulldogs outscored the Comets 58 to 34 when it came to points in the paint, a necessity as Concordia did not have their best shooting night, scoring just 20 percent of the time from downtown.
Leading the up-close and personal scoring attack was junior forward Noah Schutte, coming off a first team All-GPAC selection last season, who scored a game-high 25 points on 31 minutes played. Schutte is looking to reprise his role of Concordia’s leading scorer after he averaged 20.2 points a game last season.
Also dominant in his season debut, was junior forward Tristian Smith, who missed half of last season due to injury. Smith boasted an 18 point double-double, shooting 6-13 from the field and sinking all five of his free-throws with 10 rebounds to boot.
Aside from the starters, the Bulldog’s bench contributed 26 points, with much of that production coming in the final minutes of the contest. Leading the way off the bench was freshman guard Brooks Kissinger who scored 11 points in 23 minutes.
The game itself was a rather tight contest at times, despite the final score. The Comets came within four points of the Bulldog lead in the final six minutes of the second half. Keeping the Comets in the game was their superior three-point shooting. Maryville shot almost 30 percent from beyond the arch which helped them go toe-to-toe with the fast-paced Concordia offense.
However, the would-be comeback was put to rest after an overpowering run saw the Bulldogs mount a 20-point lead in the final minutes – which allowed some freshman to see the court as the game wound down.
The next outing for the Bulldogs will be Saturday when they play William Penn University. Tip off against the Statesmen will be 4 p.m. in Friedrich Arena.
