Thousand Oaks, CA

Concordia led for most of the contest but a 10-0 run that began with eight minutes remaining turned the tide as Cal Lutheran came back to overtake CUW 70-60 in California today.

Coach Shawn Cassidy's squad seemed to be comfortable in their coach's old stomping grounds, leading 29-24 at the break and 39-32 with 15 minutes left in this non-conference test. From that point on, missed lay ups, turnovers, and referee whistles doomed the Falcons.

"We played with great intensity but struggled to convert opportunities," said Cassidy. It's good to play these physical types of teams as we prepare for the conference schedule when we return home."

The teams were still tied 48-48 with 8:21 remaining before Cal Lutheran's game-changing run.

A pair of 3 quick pointers by Greg Grimm and a flurry of missed shots by Concordia eventually created the streak that dropped CUW to 8-2 on the season while improving the hosts to 5-5.

Skip Newton-Kemp led the Falcons with 19 points but the senior forward was just 3-10 from beyond the arc and his teammates converted just 4 of 9 free throws compared to 18-20 for the victors.

CUW pressure forced 21 Cal Lutheran turnovers but Grimm got hot in the second half, finishing with 22 points, and teammate Aaron Fisher was 10-10 from the charity stripe. Mitchell Schneider (13) and Luke Doedens (10) were the other Concordia players in double figures.