Concordia Remains on Roll, Advances to Quarterfinals

TULSA, Okla. — Concordia, attempting to become the first team not seeded in the top 30 to advance to the semifinals of the 62-year-old NAIA Division I men’s basketball tournament, rolled up another upset Thursday to vault into tonight’s quarterfinals.

Junior point guard Josh Giles hit eight of 15 shots from the floor, including three of six three-pointers, and finished with 23 points as the Eagles continued a string of late-season upsets by defeating Columbia (Mo.), 68-53.

Concordia (22-15), which defeated third-seeded Lindsey Wilson Wednesday and beat Biola and Westmont to win the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament and earn its first trip to the NAIA tournament, advances to tonight’s quarterfinals against Life College of Marietta, Ga., an 87-74 winner over Oklahoma City.

“Our guys are playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Concordia Coach Greg Marshall said, “especially when you consider they’ve never been here before.”

Giles gave Columbia (34-8) fits from the perimeter and Eagle center Harald Hofmann, who had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and forward Joel Burgess, who had 14 points and six rebounds, dominated underneath. The Eagles had a huge rebounding edge, 45-26, and pulled quickly away from Columbia in the second half after leading by two points at halftime.

A three-point play by Hofmann gave Concordia a 35-25 lead. The Eagles, who went on a 12-2 run after the intermission, built a 48-31 advantage with 11:56 left on a Burgess’ jumper.

“Colombia kept coming at us,” Hofmann said. “We had to step up our game and we did it with defense.”

The Eagles maintained a comfortable advantage the rest of the way, hitting 61% of their field-goal attempts in the final 20 minutes.

“We beat a real good team today,” Burgess said. “But unfortunately, we don’t have much time to celebrate. We have to come out and play another tough game [today].”

Columbia, which ousted Birmingham-Southern (Ala.) in the first round and has never advanced past the tournament’s second round, was led by forward Ben Ressel’s 14 points and 12 rebounds.

In other games:

Biola 57, Incarnate Word 55--Jack Hartman’s jumper with 33 seconds left in overtime gave No. 16 Biola (29-7) an upset of top-seeded Incarnate Word of Texas (28-2), helping GSAC teams to an 8-0 record in the tournament.

Westmont 75, Georgetown (Ky.) 53--Westmont got double-doubles from Brian Gomes and Chris Gonzales and the Warriors (28-5) cruised past the fourth-seeded defending champions.

Azusa Pacific 87, Findlay (Ohio) 68--Azusa Pacific (28-5) got 22 points from All-American T.J. Walker and built a 19-point lead at halftime.

Oklahoma Baptist 79, The Master’s 66--Shooting only 35.8 5/8, The Master’s (22-13) became the first California school to be eliminated.

In the women’s tournament at Jackson, Tenn.:

Oklahoma Baptist 91, The Master’s 66--Oklahoma Baptist (19-10) completed a sweep of The Master’s men’s and women’s teams, and today will meet Southern California College.