IU East Men's Basketball Loses in NAIA Opening Round
By Matt Bos, NAIA Media Coordinator
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Tyler Velasquez led No. 14 Concordia (Ore.) with 29 points and the Cavaliers used an incredible first half shooting performance to steamroll past Indiana University East, 116-90, in the first round of the 2015 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship.
With the win, Concordia moved to 25-6 on the year and into the second round for just the second time in school history and first since 2000.The Cavaliers will take on No. 3 Cornerstone (Mich.) at 8:30 a.m. on Friday morning. IU-East ends their season with a 26-8 record.
It was a dominant performance for Concordia from the opening tip, as the Cavaliers opened a quick 7-0 lead on IU East in the first minute of action. The closest the Wolves came to Concordia for the rest of the half was at the 15-minute mark when they cut their deficit down to 15-11.
Here, Concordia began a scoring barrage that would last the rest of the period. Up 22-16 with 13 minutes left, the Cavaliers went on a 21-6 tear over a six minute span that put them up by turned out to be insurmountable 43-22 margin. But, the Cavaliers weren't done yet.
Concordia continued to pour it on as the half wore along, eventually opening up a 64-37 lead late in the period. When the dust settled on the first period, the Cavaliers held a 66-39 lead over the Wolves after shooting 82.4 percent from the floor in the half (28-of-34), and 10-of-12 from long distance.
In the second half, Concordia coasted, as the closest IU East came to the lead the rest of the game was 11 points with 8:24 left in regulation (82-71). With that, the Cavaliers eased into a 26-point win, rolling into the second round of the National Championship in the process.
Overall, Concordia ended the game with four players scoring in double-figures, led by Velaquez's 29-point effort. In all, Velaquez shot 12-of-21 from the floor on the afternoon, and 3-of-5 from three-point range. The Cavaliers tied the record for most field goals made in a game (45), matching Bellevue's effort against College of St. Joseph (Vt.) in 2008.
Both Zach Geary and Thomas Pierce netted 18 points and Esvan Middleton had 16 points, as the Cavaliers matched the fifth highest offensive output in the history of the NAIA Division II National Championship , tying Dordt (vs William Penn) in 2014.
IU East was led in the loss by Vasha Davis, who ended with 18 points.
-- artilce courtesy of NAIA