Press Release
11/23 - CONCORDIA-IRVINE 84, GEORGE FOX 61: NAIA's Eagles Overpower Bruins in Hawaii Tournament
PUKULANI, Hawaii - NAIA Division I power Concordia University-Irvine forced 17 first-half turnovers to open up a 20-point halftime lead and the Eagles went on to an 84-61 win over the George Fox University Bruins in the final Thursday game of the US Bank-Whitworth College Maui Classic men's basketball tournament at the Kamehameha High School-Maui campus gym.
Concordia, which won the NAIA championship in 2003 and was ranked No. 1 nationally at one point last year, jumped out to an early 12-0 lead and never trailed. The Bruins got as close as 15-10 on a pair of free throws by Brent Satern with 11:19 left in the half, but the Eagles answered with an 18-3 run to open a 20-point lead at 33-13 on a layup by Adam Greenaway with 5:08 remaining. It was 45-25 Concordia at the break.
George Fox sliced the Concordia lead to 11 at 58-47 when Joe Ahn hit a layup with 12:01 left in the game, but the Eagles were never seriously threatened again. Another Greenaway layin with 2:08 left gave the Eagles their largest lead of 24 points at 82-58.
Phil Heu-Weller led all players with 23 points for the Bruins, while Chris Parker scored 12. Parker and Taylor Martin had 6 rebounds each, and Satern handed out 5 assists. The Bruins were out-shot .460 to .432 from the field and were out-rebounded 36-29, but the biggest difference was the turnover margin, as George Fox ended up with 28 to 18 for Concordia.
Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by Kyle Huggett's 15 points off the bench. Terrence Worthy added 13 points, Greenway tallied 11, and Joe Roberson scored 10. Huggett and Levi Luster had 6 rebounds apiece, while Worthy, Roberson, and Rafael Da Silva each had 3 assists.
George Fox (2-1) will play Alvernia College Friday at 12:30 p.m. Hawaii time (2:30 p.m. PDT). Concordia (5-1) will play in the tournament's final game, taking on Bethany Lutheran College at 3 p.m. Hawaii time.
In other Thursday games, it was Whitworth over California Lutheran University 68-55 and Lewis & Clark College over Bethany Lutheran 96-73.