5 Takeaways from Concordia vs. North Bend
In front of a packed house in Omaha on Monday night, Concordia was able to punch their ticket to state lead by 22 points from Karsten Mathsen. Here are my takeaways on the game, the standouts from both teams, and…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIn front of a packed house in Omaha on Monday night, Concordia was able to punch their ticket to state lead by 22 points from Karsten Mathsen. Here are my takeaways on the game, the standouts from both teams, and what kind of impact Concordia will have down in Lincoln next week.
Karsten Mathsen can shoot the ball
Mathsen lead both teams with 22 points last night, shooting 4/6 from 3pt range and 4 of those coming in the first half. In a spot where it was tough for Concordia to score, and North Bend starting off hot, Mathsen came to the rescue scoring 14 of his 22 points in the first half. Scoring 13ppg so far this season, and shooting about 40% from 3pt, he is not a matchup you want to see down in Lincoln.
The future is bright for North Bend and Concordia
Watching the talent in play last night, it was a scary sight for the rest of C1 to see that of the 106 points scored in the game, only 25 of them were scored by seniors. Juniors Karsten Mathsen, Zac Kulus, and Zachary Alharithy of Concordia combined for 47 points, and Freshman Kyler Hellbusch lead North Bend last night with 19.
North Bend will miss Jaxon Wietfeld
It takes about the first two minutes of a game to realize how much North Bend relies on Jaxon Wietfeld for not only scoring and tough defense, but to lead by example. Though he had a bit of a tough game last night, scoring 12 points on 5/12 shooting, the near 1,000 point career scorer showed his ability to score from all three levels. It will be exciting to see how North Bend makes up for losing his 15 points per game and 6 rebounds.
Concordia defense stepped up and got North Bend to go cold
If you were in the gym for this game Monday night, after the first quarter you’d probably have thought North Bend was well on its way to a District Final win. They were up 17-11, and shooting 67% from the floor. In the second quarter however, Concordia only allowed 5 points on 1/13 shooting and scoring 21 points themselves. The key was an added emphasis on forcing North Bend’s strong athletes out of the paint, only allowing them to score 16 points in the paint after the 1st quarter, after giving up 14 in that quarter alone.
How far can Concordia go in the State Tournament?
As the 4 seed in the C1 State Tournament and facing off against Milford in the first round, with Auburn potentially waiting in the second, Concordia definitely has their work cut out for them. Milford enters the tournament at 26-0, beating Lincoln Christian and Mitchell by double digits to get here. This game should be an instant classic with how these two teams want to push the ball and run, perhaps even the best game on Tuesday of the entire state tournament.