Men’s basketball wins first game of the 2024-25 season against Central College Dutch, 86-69
Senior forward Noah Schutte looks to pass the ball to a teammate to direct it away from the opposing team (photo from previous game).
Photo credit: Kayla Korb
By Kai Olbrich
The No. 11 Concordia University men’s basketball team showed grit, determination, and some highlight reel plays in their hard-fought first game of the season, an 86-69 win in the Cattle Classic against the NCAA Division III Central College Dutch.
While the final score would suggest a comfortable outing for Concordia, Central College gave them a challenge, being as close as five points off of the Bulldogs with 12 minutes to go. A big reason for that was the Dutch’s All-American Joshua Van Gorp, who totaled 33 points and 15 rebounds.
“I felt like both teams were out there the first time, and I think, for us, the physicality I thought was, was the difference in the first half. I thought they were a lot more physical and got loose balls. Second half I thought we were better in that area there. Their big fella was the difference maker. He was a load. He’s accomplished player of the year. We knew that. But I thought we needed to slow him down a bit better,” Concordia coach Ben Limback said.
“But overall, I mean, we shot really well in the second half, and it was fun to see us get some rebounds and then, you know, finally get out in transition,” he said.
The Bulldogs struggled to knock down shots in the first half, going 2-13 from beyond the arc and 43 percent from two-point attempts. They turned it up, however, in the second period of play, flipping the script and getting nine buckets out of 15 tries. They also increased their field goal percentage to 51.5 percent.
Concordia’s second-half success was what they needed to pull away from the Dutch. The most memorable moment of the game came courtesy of senior Tristan Smith as he brought Friedrich Arena to life with a monstrous jam to kill the game and extend the Bulldog lead to 18 points with 4:41 to go.
The biggest contributor offensively for the Bulldogs was senior Noah Shutte with 16 points. There was then a four-way tie in second for Concordia with Smith, junior Zac Kulus, sophomore Hayden Frank, and senior Bradley Bennett each contributing 12. Concordia showed its depth with eight more players getting on the scoresheet and 16 total seeing the court.
“I think that’s the strength of our team. You know, we want to get up and down and, you know, play a little more, press a little bit more defensively maybe. But I think, that’s kind of what we’re telling our guys when they get in there. They got to play hard and make those plays,” Limback said. And I really like what Zac (Kulus) did; I thought Hayden Frank off the bench did some really good things tonight. And we just got to see it continue now.
Other stat leaders were Shutte, Smith, and senior Tony Tubrick, who each collected five rebounds. Smith led the Bulldogs in assists with four, blocks with two, and steals with three.
While the Bulldogs have a deep and young roster, they are fortunate enough to have the same starting five that they finished the 2023-24 season with.
“That always makes our jobs easier as coaches, but I think, you know, they’re all a joy to coach whether they start to come off the bench I think they’re all just ready to play. And certainly, it’s nice to have those guys that are used to that moment,” Limback said.
The Bulldogs will be put to the test again as they play host to Nebraska Wesleyan in their second game of the year. The Prairie Wolves reached the Division III Elite Eight last in the 2023-24 season. The game is set to tip off at 4 p.m. on Nov. 2 in Friedrich Arena.
