Cisrow's Three Lifts Men's Basketball to Upset of No. 19 Concordia
Hastings, NE – For the first time since 2015, the Hastings College men’s basketball team can say they have defeated Concordia as the Broncos fought off a huge 14 point rally in able to upset NAIA No. 19 Concordia 70-68 on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
26 | 42 | 68 |
|
|
37 | 33 | 70 |
Team Stats
Concordia (NE)
| Game Statistics | Concordia (NE) | Hastings |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (27-54) | (27-56) |
| Field Goal % | 50.0% | 48.2% |
| Rebounds | 33 | 29 |
| Assists | 14 | 17 |
| Turnovers | 15 | 8 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 10 | 18 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 10 | 5 |
| Pts in the Paint | 38 | 22 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 0 | 0 |
| Bench Pts | 10 | 5 |
Hastings, NE – For the first time since 2015, the Hastings College men's basketball team can say they have defeated Concordia as the Broncos fought off a huge 14 point rally in able to upset NAIA No. 19 Concordia 70-68 on Saturday afternoon inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
After the Broncos had absolutely dominated the first half, the Bulldogs changed up things defensively in the second half as Reggie Thomas was creating all sorts of issues once he got into the lane as he finished the first half with 17 points. CUNE came out with an extended 3-2 defense which created a double team on Thomas every time he had the ball. This allowed Concordia to go to work on the offensive end to erase the 14 point lead rather quickly.
And before the Broncos knew it, Concordia's Bradley Bennett drained a three to put the Bulldogs up 58-55 with 7:21 left to play. With Hastings sitting on a very depleted bench with a few guys out sick but Hastings never gave up and kept on fighting. Hastings countered with a nice back door play with Grady Corrigan getting the layup to go and the game was on.
The teams just continued to battle as no one could pull away until Gage Smith got an and one to go to put CUNE up 68-64 with 1:01 to play.
Thomas quickly moved the ball into the front court and attacked the lane kicking the ball out to Corrigan on the wing as he buried a three to make it 68-67 with :52 left to play. Hastings would need a big defensive stop as the ball ended up on the low block and Thomas doubled down forcing a jump ball call as the arrow favored Hastings with 40.5 seconds left.
As Thomas brought the ball down the court, he did all he could to get into the lane and when he finally did he was so off balance that all he could do was throw it to the one guy that was open which was Phil Cisrow as he launched the three that hit nothing but nylon to make it 70-68 as the whistles blew. The clock didn't stop on the make so it was reset to 7.9 seconds as the Bulldogs had one more chance to tie the game or win it.
CUNE did call a timeout and once they came out, the ball eventually ended up in Bennett's hands and as he tried the turn around shot, Corrigan got his hand on the ball blocking it to the floor as the buzzer sounded with the Broncos pulling off the upset.
Thomas led the way with 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting as he also pulled down eight boards and dished out five assists. Corrigan finished with a career high 14 points and four assists. Evan Kingston got the rare start and finished in double figures with 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting. Cisrow finished with 10 points, four boards and four assists. Danilo Matovic finished with six points and six rebounds while Ashton Valentine added five points off the bench.
Hastings shot 48.2 percent (27-for-56) and 33.3 percent (9-for-27) from deep. The Bulldogs shot 50 percent (27-for-54) and 30.4 percent (7-for-23) from behind the arc. CUNE held a 33-to-29 advantage in rebounds while Hastings only turned the ball over eight times compared to 15 for Concordia.
The Broncos improve to 10-2 (4-2) on the year and will be back in action Thursday Dec. 15 as Briar Cliff comes to town with tipoff set for 7:45 pm inside Lynn Farrell Arena.
