Concordia Treats Itself to a Victory

The Concordia men’s basketball team had its problems away from home during the regular season, going 1-6 on the road in Golden State Athletic Conference play and 3-10 overall.

So when the Eagles drew Fresno Pacific, and the longest possible trip, in the first round of the conference tournament Tuesday, Concordia Coach Greg Marshall decided to treat his players to a little luxury. Instead of asking them to squeeze into the typical vans for the drive north, he rented a full-sized bus.

“I think they thought we were going to Hawaii in that big bus,” Marshall said. “They even got to watch a video.

“ ‘Braveheart,’ that’s a great movie to get your team fired up, cracking skulls out there.”

Even without bloodletting, fifth-seeded Concordia got the best of fourth-seeded Fresno Pacific, winning, 66-61, to advance to the semifinal against Biola at 7:30 tonight at Whittier College.

Concordia’s Kalim Scott, who played high school basketball in Fresno, had an outstanding homecoming performance, making up for a disastrous one the last time the Eagles played there.

In that game, an 83-77 Fresno victory in the conference opener, Scott, a 6-foot-6 forward, had four points and five rebounds. Scott said he was playing tentatively at the time because he was favoring a knee he injured last season.

Tuesday, Scott scored 20 points, making 10 of 11 shots from the field, and pulled down 11 rebounds. He said he was motivated by what he perceives as a snub: not being named to the all-conference team.

He doesn’t begrudge teammates Greg O’Hagan, a senior forward, or Rick Haywood, a senior guard, who made the team, but believes there should have been a place for the conference’s eighth-leading scorer (14.75 points), second-leading rebounder (7.5) and third-best shooter from the field (59.5%).

“These next games, I’m taking it personally,” Scott said. “One of the Fresno guys was talking trash, saying, ‘If you’re so good how come you didn’t make all-conference?’ It felt good to beat them after he was talking like that.

“Biola’s next because they had three guys that were on the list.”

Among Biola’s all-conference players are conference player of the year Matt Garrison, a 6-9 transfer from Division I Montana State, and Jack Hartman, a 6-8 transfer from California.

Last Saturday, Biola, which is ranked No. 9 in the NAIA, beat Concordia, 80-57, but the margin was only four points, 85-81 Biola, in the first conference game.

“We have our work cut out for us,” Marshall said. “I think Biola is playing the best of anyone in the conference right now.”