MADISON, Wis. – The Edgewood College men's basketball team showed off its ability to close out a close contest Tuesday night at the Edgedome, as the Eagles prevailed by a score of 78-69 over the visiting Concordia Wisconsin Falcons. CUW trailed by only four at 62-58 with 4:57 left on the clock but the Eagles used huge buckets from Dylan Rusch and Joe Klocek down the stretch to seal the game.
After Keith Kahlfeldt nailed a jumper in the paint to bring the Falcons within four with 4:57 left, Dylan Rusch answered with a layup after a foul on the next possession but couldn't hit the free throw, giving the Eagles a six-point lead with 4:25 to go. The Eagles then forced a miss from Dustin Thumann on the other end and Derek Braucht stepped up for a huge triple on the next possession to stretch the Eagles lead to nine with 3:40 left.
The Falcons would score the next four points but Joe Klocek, who was playing in just his second game this season, found room under the basket with the shot clock winding down and converted on a heads-up pass from Braucht at the top of the key to put the Eagles up 69-62 with 1:57 left. Rusch would then make it a double-digit lead after an and-one with 1:29 left. The Eagles would add one more bucket from Klocek to go up 11 and hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final minute to close out the game.
The first half featured six ties and the largest lead was eight when the Eagles went up 18-10 with 12:28 left in the first half. Concordia Wisconsin turned the ball over only five times on the night compared to 11 from the Eagles but couldn't slow down an efficient Edgewood College offense. The Eagles shot 50.0 percent (29-of-58) from the field in the game and were 7-for-19 from beyond the arc.
Klocek and Rusch each had 16 points on the night to lead the Eagles. 10 of Rusch's points came in the second half while Klocek put up nine in the final 20 minutes. Dylan Heemstra and Trevor Neale each had 12 points for the Eagles, while Heemstra's total now stands as a career-high. Jake Heuer muscled his way to seven rebounds on the night, which tied for a game-high and was a big reason why the Eagles outrebounded the Falcons 42-34.
Three Falcons reached double digits on the night in Bradely Prinsen (13), Malcolm Bowers (11) and Mark Scholz (10).
The Eagles have Wednesday off but will travel to MSOE on Thursday for a 7 pm game at the Kern Center in Milwaukee, Wis. The Eagles will look to improve to 3-4 overall and 3-1 in the NACC.
