Edgewood’s hot shooting downs Men’s Basketball

MADISON, Wis. - On a night when first place was on the line in the Northern Athletics Conference North Division, it was Edgewood College who built a double-digit lead in the second half behind a sizzling 61.2 percent from the floor to claim an 83-69 victory over Concordia University Wisconsin at the Todd Wehr Edgedome.

CUW owned the majority of the opening half, building a double-figure lead just over six minutes into the game. EC continually chipped away at its deficit until it claimed its first lead of the game on Craig Cashton layup with 3:36 remaining in the first half.

During a 6:50 stretch, that ended the first half and began the second period, there were four scoring ties and six lead changes as neither team could gain control. The difference in the second half, and in the game, was the Eagles production from their bench and continued hot shooting. EC outscored the Falcons 30-15 by non-starters and shot at least 58 percent in each half.

Senior Luke Doedens (Cedarburg, Wis.) led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Junior Brian Jackson (Carol Stream, Ill) and senior Mitchell Schneider (New Holstein, Wis.) added 16 and 10 points, respectively, for CUW (11-4, 7-2 NAC).

The Falcons shot a respectable 45.9 percent from the floor, but couldn't find its stroke during the final 20 minutes as they hit only 37.9 percent (11-of-29). CUW hauled in 10 offensive rebounds and turned those second chance opportunities into 13 points.

However, CUW didn't get its normal production from its bench as non-starters managed to score just 15 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Freshman Ben Brooke (Viroqua, Wis.) did finish with eight points and six rebounds off the bench for the Falcons.

EC (14-3, 8-1 NAC) had four players score in double-digits and was led by Derek Nkemnji's 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Ben Wisniewski and Cashton each tallied 15 points (Cashton's off the bench), while Kent Faurote added a double-double, 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Eagles were efficient all night from the floor as they made 16-of-25 (64.0 percent) from the field in the opening half and 14-of-24 (58.3 percent) during the game's final 20 minutes.

CUW will finish its difficult three-game road trip on Saturday when it travels to Rockford College for a 4:15 p.m. matchup. The contest is the second part of a doubleheader with the women's program who tips off a 2 p.m.