BOX SCORE

Austin, Texas – Josh Johnson posted his second double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds to propel the Concordia University Texas men's basketball team to a 98-93 victory over Schreiner in the final game of the regular season for both schools on Saturday, Feb. 19 at the Concordia Field House. The Tornados, who will make their fifth straight American Southwest Conference Tournament appearance next week, broke a 93-all tie in the final minute of regulation to escape with the victory.

Concordia (15-10, ASC 13-8), which led 42-37 at halftime, got layups from Donald Lee and Johnson in the opening 23 seconds to build up a 46-37 advantage. After Johnson made another layup to give the Tornados a double-digit lead at 54-44 with 17:06 left, the Mountaineers started to fight back by scoring the next six points and keeping the high-scoring hosts off the board for nearly three minutes.

The Tornados shook off the attempted rally and broke out to a 17-point lead when Nick Haynes canned a 3-pointer at the 8:08 mark which made it 80-63, but the Mountaineers did not go away quietly and embarked on a 16-3 run over the next 3:24 to slice the deficit to four points. Top scorers Darren Smith and Riley Battle keyed the comeback by combining for 12 points during the stretch.

Schreiner (10-15, ASC 8-13) continued chipping away at the deficit and took its first lead of the half when Tyrie Prince took a pass from Darren Smith and drove in for a layup while also getting himself to the free throw line in the process. The lead, however, did not last for long. After Prince missed his free throw and a chance at finishing a 3-point play, Larry Durand put back a missed jumper by Chris McDermott and made the ensuing free throw he earned for being fouled on the play to put the hosts ahead by two at 90-88.

The Mountaineers tied the game twice, which included a trey by Smith to make it 93-all, but Haynes came through with the clutch shot of the game when he finished a pass from McDermott and drained a three to give the Tornados a lead they would not relinquish with 39 seconds left. After Mike Huddleston missed a shot from long range which could have tied the game, Jason Recendez iced the win for the Tornados by making each of his two free throw attempts at the other end of the floor.

The tightly-contested first half featured two ties and two lead changes with neither squad leading by more than seven points. A jumper by Haynes put the Tornados ahead by a 4-3 score and gave the hosts a slim advantage which they held until Battle drained a jumper just before the midway point of the stanza to give his team a 17-16 edge. A jump shot followed by a trey from McDermott sparked a 9-0 Tornado run, which was capped by Johnson's layup at the 5:16 mark which gave the squad a 32-25 cushion. The stretch allowed the host team to maintain its lead for the rest of the half.

Concordia, which honored seniors Connor Davenport, Collin Perkins, Justin Reefer and Recendez prior to the contest, had five players score in double figures. In addition to Johnson's team-leading 19 points, Haynes netted 18 to stay hot offensively entering postseason play. Darius Anderson and Recendez contributed 13 and 11 points, respectively, off the bench, while Recendez also added six assists in his final appearance at the Field House. McDermott added 11 points, and Chris McOmber barely missed what would have been his second double-double in three games by adding nine points and eight boards. Battle led Schreiner with 30 points off the bench, while Smith finished with 19 points and eight assists. Prince fell just shy of a double-double with 14 points and eight boards.

Concordia will appear in the ASC Tournament as the fourth seed in the West Division beginning on Friday, Feb. 25 when it battles host Texas-Dallas, the top seed in the East Division, in the last quarterfinal match of the day at 7:30 p.m.