Courtesy of Midland Athletics
SEWARD, Neb. – Midland University traveled to Seward, Nebraska, on Tuesday night to face the No. 9-ranked Concordia University in a Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) matchup. The Warriors went toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs before ultimately enduring a tough 89-78 loss on the road.
Jeff Rozelle III opened the scoring with a layup, but Concordia quickly answered with a three-pointer. Jake Orr then sparked an 18-0 run for the Warriors, scoring 12 of those points to help Midland build an early double-digit lead, 20-4. The Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 run to trim the deficit. The teams traded points, with Ryan Larsen and Orr hitting back-to-back three-pointers to keep the pressure on Concordia.
The Bulldogs continued to fight back, piecing together a 6-0 run, but Orr stayed hot, igniting an 8-3 stretch for Midland as the first half neared its conclusion. Concordia closed the gap with a 9-0 run, turning the contest into a tight battle. A free throw by Luke Gdowski and a layup from Orr as time expired gave the Warriors a six-point lead, 43-37, at halftime.
Concordia opened the second half with an 11-0 run to seize the lead, prompting a Midland timeout. Ryan Larsen ended the Warriors’ scoring drought with a three-pointer, spurring a brief 5-0 run. However, the Bulldogs quickly regained control, answering with a 10-2 run to extend their advantage.
The teams traded points in a back-and-forth contest, with Orr leading a 5-0 surge to cut the deficit to three. But Concordia pulled away with an 11-2 run in the final five minutes. Despite baskets from Trey McCain and Orr during a late 5-3 spurt, the Bulldogs sealed the game with clutch free throws, finishing with an 89-78 victory.
Jake Orr led all scorers with 33 points for Midland, followed by Cole Petersen with 11 and Jeff Rozelle III with 10.
Midland shot 28-of-56 (50%), while Concordia shot 30-of-68 (44.1%). Turnovers proved costly for the Warriors, as the Bulldogs capitalized with 27 points off Midland’s 19 turnovers.
“We played hard tonight. I really liked our energy and liked our ‘want to’,” commented head coach Tyler Erwin. “We had energy and good juice. We had a great game plan tonight, but couldn’t take care of the ball. We hurt ourselves. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds and turned the ball over way too much against the national tournament-caliber team. You can’t make those mistakes against a team like that.
“Jake had a tremendous performance tonight. He was good on both ends of the floor. We need that type of competitiveness throughout our team. We will be better.”
Midland (5-4) will return home for a non-conference game against Clarke (1-5) on Friday, November 29. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m. inside the Wikert Event Center in Fremont, Nebraska.
