SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – The Lawrence Technological (Mich.) University men's basketball team fell to Concordia (Mich.) University – Ann Arbor 70-54 on Saturday afternoon in the Don Ridler Field House.

Lawrence Tech (8-10, 5-6) trailed the Cardinals early in the game as Concordia took a 17-10 lead on the Blue Devils with 12:52 left in the first half. Alek Ivanovic got the scoring started for Lawrence Tech as he hit his first shot to take a 3-0 lead, but Concordia was able to hit a few shots to take a 4-3 lead. The Cardinals followed with a 13-6 run to take the seven-point lead.

The Blue Devils started chipping away at the lead as Devonte Myles hit his first jumper of the game to start an 11-0 run that saw Lawrence Tech take a 21-17 lead on the Cardinals. Ty Searles had five points during that run as the Blue Devils forced four Concordia turnovers and drew a bench technical on Concordia en route to the four-point lead.

Concordia (5-15, 4-8) battled back to tie the game at 24-24 with 6:28 remaining as they took a 33-26 lead into the locker-room at halftime. The Cardinals hit four of their six of their final 10 shots of the half to take the six-point lead. The Blue Devils finished the first half with three second chance points on four offensive rebounds as they shot 32.1 percent from the field.

The Cardinals extended their lead to 11 points to start the second half as they hit their first shot of the half to make it 35-26. They made it a 12 points game after a Jalen Thompson three, going up 40-28 and hit a pair of free-throws to push it to 14 points.

The Blue Devils continued to fight, forcing the Cardinals into missed shots and turnovers as they cut the lead from 48-31 to 48-37 with 12:13 left in the game. That is as close as the Blue Devils would get as the Cardinals went on a 12-4 run to extend the lead to 60-41. Concordia went up 68-48, but a three from Carter Frantz cut the lead to 17 followed by a defensive rebound by Myles and another three, this time from Alek Ivanovic, made it a 14-point game with 1:49 remaining. But the Cardinals were up by too much, taking the contest 70-54.

Lawrence Tech was led by Searles with 19 points and three rebounds while Jalen Bethelfinished with a team high eight rebounds and recorded nine points. The Blue Devils shot just 27.3 percent from three, but shot 44.0 percent from the field. The Cardinals were led by Thompson with 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting and had 10 rebounds. Booker finished with 11 points.

Lawrence Tech is back on the court Wednesday, January 16 when they travel to Adrian, Mich. to face (RV) Siena Heights (Mich.) University. First tip is set for 8 p.m.