Men's Basketball had banner year
MEQUON, Wis. -- Concordia Wisconsin had another banner year, winning the NACC Tournament and advancing to the NCAA Division III Tournament. They compiled a 19-10 overall record and a 15-5 record in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, while also putting together many memorable performances and setting records along the way.
The Falcons began the season with a 5-4 record and were trying to figure things out as each game went by; best rotations, plays that fit those on the court and in the rotation and developing the younger players who were getting significant playing time.
Those questions started getting answered as the calendar turned to January, as the Falcons responded from a difficult double-overtime loss at Illinois Tech (a team with a sub-.500 record at the time) by going 14-5 the remainder of the season. They went 6-2 over the last eight games of the conference schedule to earn the third seed and a home tournament game.
After defeating Illinois Tech after holding them scoreless the last seven minutes of the game in a NACC Tournament quarterfinal game, they went to Wisconsin Lutheran received a record-setting performance from junior Jordan Johnson (Cedarburg, Wis.) who scored 45 points on 16-of-26 shooting (five 3-pointers). He would outscore the Warriors 29-22 over the final 10 minutes of the game. Along with the Falcons win and an MSOE upset over top-seeded Benedictine, Concordia Wisconsin earned the right to host the NACC Tournament Championship.
In front of a soldout crowd, the Falcons needed overtime to defeat MSOE for the third time in the season and win their second NACC Tournament Championship. By winning they earned the NACC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, making it to the big dance for the fourth time in program history.
At eighth-ranked UW-Platteville on March 6, Concordia Wisconsin cut the game to a five-point deficit with 7:53 to play after going on a quick 10-0 scoring run over a one minute and 15-second span that featured back-to-back triples by sophomore Jared Jurss (Sheboygan, Wis.).
Throughout the season, Johnson led the team offensively with a 19.3 points per game average, while Jurss set the program's single-season record for assists (197) and ranked 10th nationally. Both players earned All-NACC First Team honors and were named NACC Players of the Week at least once.
Sophomore Brandon Keller (Plymouth, Wis.), along with junior Alex Antonie (Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) and freshman Gabe Purss (North Fond du Lac, Wis.) controlled the area around the rim. Keller led the team with 213 rebounds, which ranked fourth in the NACC, to go along with six double-doubles. Antonie had a team-high-tying 24 rejections.
Junior Joey Zietlow (Oak Creek, Wis.) quietly stuff his stat line night in and night out, which including a team-high 60 steals (second in the NACC). He averaged 13.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 2.7 steals.
Four seniors (Isaiah Tenette, Olalekan George, Nolan Rhey and Braden Persinger) gave everything they had during their careers and helped guide the Falcons to a 70-40 overall record, 57-23 record in league play and a 35-11 record at home. George ended his career ranked tied for 10th in the NCAA-era with 40 blocks.
