PORTLAND, Ore. – Falling behind by double digits early, the Linfield men’s basketball team never quite recovered on its way to a lopsided 76-48 defeat Saturday night at the hands of Concordia-Portland.

Avenging an earlier loss to the Wildcats, the Cavaliers hardly looked like the team that had lost to Linfield by 16 points last month.

Having fallen behind by 14 at the start of the two team's first game against each other, Concordia (8-4) jumped out early this time, scoring the first 12 points in the game and holding Linfield (2-8) scoreless for the first 4:34.

Everything was going Concordia's way offensively early as the Cavs notched eight assists on their first nine field goals.

However, Linfield eventually brought the CU offense back down to earth, forcing the Cavs to shoot below their season average from the field in the first half. That defense also helped Linfield cut the CU lead back down to singles digits at the end of the first half.

Then, once in the second, Linfield got six quick points from leading scorer Zach Anderson, who had been held to two in the first, using a 9-4 run to cut Concordia's lead to four, 35-31.

Unfazed, Concordia went on an 18-4 run of its own over the next 7:37 to take back full command of the game at 53-35 with 9:53 remaining.

Long-range shooting accuracy was a major difference between the two games. Linfield shot 11-of-20 from beyond the 3-point arc in the first meeting, but was just 2-of-19 on Saturday. In addition, Anderson scored 33 points in the first game, but netted just 12 in the return engagement.

Concordia picked up its shooting with high percentages in the second half, hitting at a .519 clip from the floor in the second period. That raised the host’s game total to .464, compared to.306 for Linfield. On top of that, Concordia outrebounded Linfield 43-35 and had 14 assists on 26 field goals.

Individually, Adam Herman led the Cavs with 22 points, while Kevan West and Jourdan Sweeney each recorded double-doubles. West got his with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Sweeney scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. West and Sweeney's rebounds combined also totaled over half of Concordia's team total. Finally, Austin Dunn totaled a game-high seven assists.

In addition to Anderson, another bright spot for Linfield was the season debut of center David Lee, who returned from a nagging injury to net nine points and four rebounds off the bench. Andrew Batiuk (Soph., Tualatin, Ore.) had eight points and two assists. Michael Moreland added six points and four rebounds for the ‘Cats.

AHEAD: Linfield is idle for 11 days before playing one final nonconference game against Northwest Christian, Nov. 28, in Eugene. Northwest Conference action resumes Jan. 6 at Lewis & Clark.