Concordia (Mich.) shot nearly 57% from the floor, including 58.3% from three-point range on Wednesday evening, and defeated Lourdes 84-55 inside of Cardinal Fieldhouse in Ann Arbor, Mich.
 
The Cardinals drained nine second half three-pointers, shooting 69.2% from outside of the arc and 65.4% from the field overall, on the way to 51 points over the final 20 minutes.
 
"We looked like an inexperienced team tonight," head coach Josh Gibson said afterwards.  "Credit Concordia for playing with a lot of intensity and shooting the ball extremely well.  They entered the night at 27% from three as a team and went 14-for-24 from deep.  When some shots fell for them and didn't for us, we really allowed that to take us out of the game."
 
Concordia jumped out to a quick 17-8 lead less than eight minutes into the game and slowly increased the lead to as many as 17 in the opening stanza before taking a 33-18 lead into the locker room.  The margin remained between 16 and 19 for the first 10 minutes of the second half before the Cardinals before a 21-7 run over the next five minutes pushed the advantage to 30, solidifying the Concordia win.
 
Hamish Abbott (Melbourne, Australia/Rowville Secondary H.S.) led Lourdes with 12 points while Najeeb Johnson (Cleveland Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights H.S.) and Desmond Frazier (Ocala, Fla./Dunnellon H.S.) added 11 points each.
 
Lourdes shot 42.3% from the field, but was outrebounded 36-22 for the night.
 
"We failed to compete on the glass and failed to execute any kind of principled defense," Gibson added.
 
Jerald Booker led Concordia (3-4, 1-2 WHAC) with 21 points, making 8-of-12 shots from the floor, while Jalen Thompson added 19 points.  Jared McDonald finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and handing out 10 assists.
 
"After eight games in 24 days to start the season, we will get some much-needed rest over the Thanksgiving break and hopefully come back rested and ready to prepare for Madonna," Gibson concluded.
 
Lourdes (2-7, 1-2) will have eight days off before returning to action next Wednesday, Nov. 30, as the Gray Wolves host Madonna.  Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. at the Russell J. Ebeid Recreation Center.