The Northwestern men’s basketball team brought a home win over Concordia with a score of 79-65 at the Bultman Center. Some of the star players were guard Grant DeMeulenaere, forward Matt Onken, forward Craig Sterk, and guard Dillon Carlson.
NW played well defensively during the first half of the game and held Concordia scoreless for over six minutes of the game. The Raiders took their lead from three points to 19 by the 9:50 mark.
The Raiders continued their lead in the second half thanks to Onken, who scored eight points in the final five minutes, helping NW lead by 24 points. Sterk led the Raiders 45-24 at half time.
“We were really focused on starting the game. That is something that we struggled with this year and we were just able to come out with a lot of energy and get a really good lead in the first half,” said Sterk.
Out of the entire game, Carlson scored three of his game-high 22 points to put the Raiders at 56-30. Even though the Bulldogs put up around 20 points in the second half, the Raiders improved their shooting game by over 53% for the Raiders to stay at a 20-point lead through most of the second half.
“I thought our guys were dialed in from the start,” said head coach Kris Korver. “We defended all game but especially in the first 20 minutes. Sometimes it’s hard to be up by 20 against a good team, but I thought our guys did a good job staying on the gas. We held serve at home, bounced back from Thursday night, and now we have a big week coming up at Morningside and Jamestown.”
NW had three double-digit scores: Carlson, DeMeulenaere, and Onken. Carlson scored a game-high 22 points, his eleventh game this season with at least 20 points.
DeMeulenaere hit three 3-pointers in a season-high 17-point performance Onken added 16 points to go with seven boards. Keyton Moser pulled down a season-high seven rebounds.
The Raiders look to improve their season against Doane on Feb. 4.
