Ranked among the nation's top 25 for the fifth time in six weeks, Benedictine (14-3, 4-0 NIIC) had its hands full in the first 10 minutes of the game. Concordia (2-13, 0-6 NIIC) led for the first four minutes of the game before Matt Harrison knocked down a trey to give the hosts their first lead of the day at 11-9. Benedictine led by a 17-11 count after an Adam Hansen lay-up six minutes into the game, but Concordia scored the next eight points on treys from DaWaun Wells and Andre Smith and a lay-up from Cortez Hale to take a 19-17 lead.
Down 20-18 with just more than 10 minutes into the first half, head coach Keith Bunkenburg called his third timeout, which seemed to rally his troops. Marcus Jackson scored on a jumper out of the timeout, which began the Eagles' 29-0 run. Zach Ramey scored 11 points in the run, while Will Crawford added seven.
Concordia finally snapped its eight-minute scoreless streak on a Bobby Smith lay-up, and closed its deficit to 21 (47-26) by the half on an Andre Smith lay-in just before the break.
Harrison hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions early in the second half, which gave the Eagles a 65-38 lead with 15 minutes remaining. Mike Shimkus knocked down a triple to stake the Eagles to a 70-40 lead with 11 minutes remaining, and they led by as many as 37 points (83-46) after a Jacob Gage trey with 5:40 left in the game.
All but one of the 15 players who saw action for Benedictine found the scoring column. Harrison led all scorers with 19 points (on 5-of-9 3-point shooting) in just 22 minutes of work. Ramey added 13 points and seven assists, while Crawford finished up with 11 points and seven boards. The Eagles got 34 points from their bench in the win.
Bobby Smith finished with 16 points to pace Concordia, while Andre Smith added seven points and a team-high six boards.
Benedictine's next match-up will be one of its most difficult of the season, as the Eagles square off with host Aurora University on Wednesday, Jan. 26. Both teams will enter the game with perfect records in NIIC play.