Behind their best defensive performance of the year so far, Briar Cliff men's basketball defeated RV Concordia 65-48 in the Newman Flanagan Center Saturday. BC opens GPAC play at 1-0 and are 3-3 overall.

"Big shoutout to the Blue Crew, the student section was awesome tonight, and it was great to be back home after a couple weeks of road games," said head coach Mark Svagera. "We have really been striving to play a complete game, and have been close a couple of times but haven't quite been there yet. Tonight, I thought we got a complete game for 40 minutes."

The first ten minutes of play was low scoring as the two teams were tied at 11-11. At the eight-minute mark, a Jaden Kleinhesselink 3-pointer followed by a Kyle Boerhave and-one jumpstarted a 13-0 BC run to take a 27-18 lead. The Chargers took a 36-26 advantage into the locker rooms at halftime.

Kleinhesselink and Boerhave paced the Chargers in the first half with 13 and 11 points, respectively. They both converted 5-of-6 field goal attempts and Kleinhesselink knocked down three treys. Quinn Vesey notched three steals as the Cliff found 10 points off turnovers.

Briar Cliff built off their first half momentum, outscoring the Bulldogs 9-3 over the first seven minutes of the second half. The Chargers were able to answer any Bulldogs run, as they held onto a double-digit lead for most of the half. A Kleinhesselink and-one followed by a Quinten Vasa 3-pointer gave the Cliff their largest lead of the night 63-43 with two minutes remaining. 

Kleinhesselink poured in 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting, including four treys. Boerhave added 13 points and three rebounds. Vesey did a little bit of everything with 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals. Vasa nearly recorded a double double with nine points and nine boards. 

BC shot 45.6% from the field, 42.1% from beyond the arc, but converted only 50% of their free throw attempts. 

"Our guys executed at an incredibly high level all night, especially on the defensive side of the ball. That's something we have been struggling with a little bit and the guys did a great job of executing the game plan," said Svagera.

Heading into tonight's contest the Bulldogs averaged 86.2 points per game with a 48.8 field goal percentage. The Charger defense held Concordia to 48 points, on 36.7% from the field and 4.8% from the 3-point line. Concordia boasts a balanced offense that has five players averaging in double figures, but the BC defense allowed just two players to score over ten points.

Briar Cliff held the advantage in rebounds 30-29, steals 10-5, points off turnovers 18-4 and they committed less turnovers 12-17.

Noah Schutte had 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench to pace the Bulldogs. AJ Watson added 11 points. Carter Kent chipped in eight points. 

"The second half they made a couple runs and I thought we withstood every one and were able to counter it back," said Svagera. "We made some big shots and a lot of guys stepped up and made plays for us. That's a great way to start the conference season and hopefully catapult us forward now."

The Chargers head to Yankton, South Dakota Wednesday to face off against Mount Marty at 7:45 p.m. 

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