Six Shooter Read Rifles Eagles into GSAC Semifinals

Box Score 

(3/6/08 - Men's Basketball) IRVINE - After three games of seeing Ryan Read shoot the ball, Biola has no doubt seen more than enough of the all-GSAC guard. Read hit six three-pointers for a game-high 25 points to lead top-seeded Concordia to a 71-67 win over 8th-seeded Biola, Thursday evening in the first round of the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament.

"You try to come up with game plans, but this game wasn't about that," said head coach Ken Ammann, who is now 11-4 all-time in GSAC Tournament play. "Both teams played with a lot of heart and toughness. That was a great Biola team that is never easy to beat. They have great players and they are well-coached. It was just a great game and we were fortunate to come out on top."

In all three meetings between the two teams this season, Read has knocked down six three-point shots. He combined to connect on 18-of-35 (.514) in the trio of Concordia wins and scored a total of 71 points.

"It was a great team effort tonight, but Ryan and Terrence (Worthy) had some special plays that really picked us up when we needed it offensively."

Worthy, another all-GSAC selection with Rafael Da Silva, added 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting while tallying 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. He and Read combined to shoot 15-of-25 from the field to account for over 60 percent of the Concordia offense.

The two teams played an even first 15 minutes of the game before Concordia slowly edged its way in front heading into the break. A 23-22 lead methodically stretched to a nine-point cushion as Biola committed four turnovers down the stretch Read had five points, Worthy hit a pair of jumpers and Ben Smith added a short jumper before Read knocked down two free throws with five seconds left before the break.

All-GSAC forward Rocky Hampton nearly single-handedly kept Biola in the game in the first half, scoring 14 of his team's 24 points as he hit 6-of-7 shots from the field and a pair of free throws. Fellow frontcourt all-GSAC selection Danny Jones cranked up his offense in the second half, allowing Biola to answer each time Concordia stretched its lead to double digits.

"Those two posts score the ball as well or better than any posts in the country," said Ammann. "We had our hands full and I was really proud of the effort of all four of our posts."

Though Jones and Hampton finished a combined 16-of-23 from the field, the four-man rotation of Joe Roberson, Ben Smith, Chris Minardo and Tyler Gottstein made the twin towers work hard for each bucket and limited the penetration of the Biola backcourt players.

Leading by 11 with 5:23 to play, Concordia watched its comfortable advantage slip to 63-59 with Hampton and Jones providing all of the points. Jones and Marlon King took turns cutting the Concordia lead to two in the final two minutes, but each time Worthy was able to drive into the lane and convert short jumpers to maintain the two-possession advantage.

After Worthy had put the Eagles up 69-65 with 20 seconds left, Danny Campbell missed a pair of three-pointers on either side of a timeout. Jones was able to put back the second with three seconds left, but Da Silva crept behind the defense to beat the full-court pressure. He set up Minardo for a dunk as time expired to finish off the win.

Minardo and Smith each added 8 points for the Eagles while Roberson led the team with five rebounds. Though the shots were hard to come by, both teams managed to shoot over 50 percent for the game, the difference between the two being nine three-pointers made for Concordia versus two for Biola.

Hampton finished with 23 points and 6 rebounds for Biola (17-14) while Jones added 19 points and 11 rebounds. Campbell added 11 points and 8 assists.

Concordia (26-4) takes on #4-seeded Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday, March 8 in the second semifinal game of the evening starting at 7:30 p.m. Second-seeded Azusa Pacific battled #3-seeded California Baptist at 5:30 p.m., both games taking place in Concordia's CU Arena.