Men's Basketball routs MSOE

MEQUON, Wis. – After its worst shooting performance in program history on Tuesday, Concordia University Wisconsin responded with an 87-48 rout over MSOE on Thursday night inside the R. John Buuck Field House. The 39-point victory is tied for the fourth largest in team history.

The Falcons shot a blistering 56.4 percent from the field to win the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference matchup, just two days after shooting a dismal 25.8 percent at Marian University. They had four players score in double-figures and 12 players find the scoring column.

CUW also continued its efficient free throw shooting and made 19-of-24 attempts (79.2 percent), while also forcing 21 turnovers. The Falcons bench played a big part in the win and outscored the Raiders reserves by a 41-17 margin. They also finished with a 50-18 advantage in points in the paint and a 37-4 difference in points off turnovers.

Junior Keith Kahlfeldt (New Berlin, Wis.) led all players with 14 points, to go along with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Senior Mark Scholz (Greenfield, Wis.) and junior Brett Boettcher (New Holstein, Wis.) each added 12 points, while junior Taron Edwards (Racine, Wis.) added a career-high-tying 11 points. Boettcher also grabbed seven rebounds, assisted on two field goals and stole three passes. Freshman Matt Wilke (Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) scored a career-high seven points and freshman Josh Erickson (Manitowoc, Wis.) grabbed a career-high-tying three rebounds.

Austin Stueck and Connor Patterson each had 10 points for MSOE (8-7, 5-5 NACC). Patterson led the Raiders with five rebounds and two assists, while Nathan Verdun stole a pair of passes.

After 12 minutes and 35 seconds of play the Falcons held just a one-point advantage, before putting together a 15-6 scoring run prior to halftime. During the first 20 minutes, CUW scored 16 points off 10 MSOE turnovers and its reserves tallied 17 points.

The Falcons advantage quickly swelled to 20 points just over three minutes into the second half and reached 30 points on a Bradley Prinsen (junior, Oostburg, Wis.) layup with 7:25 to play in the game. CUW went on a 14-3 run over the next seven minutes to extend its lead to a game-high 41 points on a free throw by Erickson.

CUW (9-6, 8-4 NACC) returns to action on Saturday to complete a three-game week with a 4:15 p.m. NACC contest at Rockford University.