The Stingers men’s basketball team opened a five-game preseason series versus NCAA opponents with a hard-fought 78-74 loss to the Stetson Hatters at Concordia Gym on Monday night.
Newcomer Mikee Dosado, a guard transferring home after using two years of eligibility at Brandon University, led the Stingers with 14 points and four assists in 25 minutes of play.
Second-year forward TJ Umar collected seven points and 15 rebounds.The Stingers led Stetson, a Division 1 team from the Atlantic Sun Conference, 41-31 at halftime. They were still out in front 60-55 after three quarters, but the game slipped away in the final minutes.
“I was very, very happy with the effort and intensity we played with,” said Concordia head coach Rastko Popovic afterwards. “I’m very pleased with how our new players performed, especially for an early August game.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing how we progress in our next four games versus American opponents.”
The Stingers will host Morgan State this Saturday at 8 p.m. The Bears are a Division 1 school based in Baltimore. They play in the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference. Concordia will be their first stop on a five-game, seven-day tour of Ottawa and Montreal.
Next up the Stingers will host the Florida A&M Rattlers, a Tallahassee-based school also from the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference. The game will be played Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. at Vanier College.
The last team coming through is St. Thomas Aquinas College, a very accomplished Division 2 school that posted an 18-2 win-loss record in the East Coast Conference. The Sparkill, N.Y. team also won its conference championship last March. The Spartans will play Thursday, Sept 1 at 7 p.m. and again Friday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. Both games will take place at Concordia gym.
General admission tickets to each of the NCAA games are $10.
