BOX SCORE
Austin, Texas – Kenny Williams registered 14 points and five assists and Josh Johnson fell just shy of a double-double, but the Concordia University Texas men's basketball team was edged by Schreiner, 86-84, on Saturday, Jan. 14 at the CTX Field House. The Mountaineers erased a double-digit deficit in the second half and made some clutch free throws down the stretch to escape with the win in a seesaw battle that saw 13 ties and six lead changes.
Neither team led by more than four points until Nick Haynes drilled a 3-point field goal at the 11:43 mark to cap an 8-1 Concordia run and give the hosts a 24-17advanage. Schreiner came back to tie the score at 24s, but Darius Anderson put the hosts back up with a trey of his own. The Mountaineers, however, responded and went back ahead on a tip-in by Tyrie Prince and went into the locker room up 42-39 through 20 minutes of action.
Williams scored five quick points and gave Concordia a 49-47 lead by hitting a layup less than two minutes into the second half. Following a good Travis Pflughaupt free throw that tied the score at 49-all, the Tornados burst ahead by netting 10 consecutive points. Johnson accounted for half of the scoring during the stretch. But the Mountaineers recovered to tie the game at 66 on a Stevan Guerrero jumper and went ahead for good when Pflughaupt put back hisown miss to break the 13th deadlock of the game and give his team a 72-70 lead.
Concordia had its chances to win the game in the waning minutes, as a seven-point margin was sliced to two at 82-80 courtesy of Anderson free throws at the 3:45 mark. The deficit then went down to one at 85-84 after Donald Lee made a layup, prompting Tornado head coach Stan Bonewitz to call a timeout to set up his defense.
The defense came through with Albert Kusi stealing the ball to give the hosts possession and a chance to to hold on to the ball and wait for the last shot since they were only down by one. Anderson attempted a 3-pointer from the right corner, but his shot rimmed out and Travis Pflughaupt rebounded the ball before making his second of two free throws on the other end. Concordia had one last opportunity to tie the game and force overtime with a two or win it with a three, but the Mountaineer defense tightened up and did not allow the Tornados to get a good shot off by the time the final buzzer sounded.
Johnson led four Concordia players in double figures with 15 points to go along with nine boards and two blocks, while Williams netted his 14 on 6-for-9 shooting from the field and 2-for-4 shooting from downtown. Haynes and Anderson finished with 12 and 10 points, respectively, and Anderson added three steals.
Like Concordia, Schreiner (9-6, ASC 7-4) had four players score in double figures. Pflughaupt recorded 17 points and a game-high 24 rebounds, while Myres finished with 21 points. Smith netted 19 points and Guerrero contributed 13.
Concordia (8-7, ASC 6-5) travels to Abilene for another pivotal match against McMurry on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
